Wind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a brief history of wind tunnels and its types and uses, the book goes on to cover subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnel design and construction, calibration, boundary corrections, flow quality assessment, pressure surveys, and dynamic testing. It also focuses on wind tunnel facilities, making it useful for both the designer and operator. Engineers and graduate students in aerospace, automotive and similar programs will find this book useful in their work with experimental aerodynamics, gas dynamics, facility design and performance.
- Deals with a broad range of flow speeds in wind tunnels, from low speed to high speed
- Provides a discussion of similarity laws as well as material on statistical analysis
- Includes coverage on facility-to-facility and facility-to-CFD correlation
- Presents advanced topics such as cryogenic wind tunnels, ground simulation in automotive testing, and propulsion testing
SECTION 1 Introduction 1. A brief history of the genesis of wind tunnels
2. Types and uses of wind tunnels
3. Dynamic similarity
SECTION 2 Wind tunnel design and circuit aerodynamics 4. Subsonic wind tunnel design
5. Boundary interference assessment, alleviation, and correction
6. Model supports and support interference evaluation
7. Transonic wind tunnels
8. Supersonic wind tunnels
9. Hypersonic test facilities
10. Force and Moment Balances
11. Model design and construction
12. Special topics
SECTION 3 Operational and Test Procedures 13. Statistical Engineering Practices
14. Wind tunnel calibration
15. Flow quality assessment
16. Force and moment measurements
17. Facility instrumentation
18. Planning of Test Campaigns
SECTION 4 Wind tunnel test techniques 19. Pressure surveys
20. Dynamic testing
21. Facility-to-facility, facility-to-CFD, facility-to-flight correlation
SECTION 5 Measurement Techniques 22. Flow visualization
23. Nonintrusive quantitative flow field measurements
SECTION 6 Postscript 24. The role of CFD in aerodynamic research
25. The future of ground testing
SECTION 7 APPENDICES A. A primer on statistical engineering B. Strain-gage balance calibration example
Associate Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA Dr. Britcher has more than 40 years experience in wind tunnel design and test techniques, starting as an undergraduate student. He has worked with a variety of facilities and applications, covering all speed ranges, including several NASA-funded projects. Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA Dr. Landman has more than 35 years experience on wind tunnel design, with an emphasis on experiment design and balance calibration. He was responsible for operations and test support of the "Langley Full-Scale Tunnel", the largest University operated wind tunnel in the world, prior to its decommissioning by NASA.
