Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Experiment: Wind Tunnel

Nibodh Boddupalli UG201212011
C K Shiva Dinesh UG201212012
Chetan Gupta UG201212013

OBJECTIVES - To understand the flow around aerofoil and variation in pressure profile around the aerofoil
with angle of attack.
- Find out the tunnel air velocity, Pitot tube local air velocity using Pitot - static tube.

APPRATUS REQUIRED
Inclined manometer bank (C15-11)- A bank of 13 transparent tubes inclined at 30
degree to measure small differences (0-160mm H2O) using water as the working fluid for
safe operation and convenience in use. When installed on the wind tunnel, the manometer is
located inside the frame below the test section to the left hand side of the IFD7 Electrical
console.
The C15-11 manometer (12) incorporates a water reservoir with a screw operated displacer
(13) to allow rapid adjustment of the datum level in the manometer. Any change in the level
in one tube affects the level in all of the other tubes because they are connected to the
common reservoir. After each adjustment to the model, the wind speed etc. the displacer
should be screwed up or down as required to restore the tube(s) at atmospheric pressure to
the original datum as required datum. All reading can then be recorder relative to a common
datum.
The manometer incorporates quick release connectors on the side for rapid connection to
appropriate models and instrument. The 10 way connector is connected to tubes 1 to 10 and
the two separates connectors are connected to tubes 11 and 12.

Electronic Manometer (C15-12) - An electronic console incorporating 16 different

pressure sensor, each with a range of 0-178 mm H2O. When installed on the wind tunnel,
the electronic manometer is located inside the frame below the test section to the left hand
side of the IFD7 electronic console. The electronic manometer can be secured to the frame
by transferring on the straps from the IFD7 to the C15-12. The electrical supply for the
manometer is obtained from the outlet socket on the front of the IFD7.
Pitot Static Tube- A miniature Pitot Static tube mounted in a support plug that can be
located in the roof of the working section at three alternative positions, i.e. the start of the
working section and upstream and downstream of the model mounting position. The support
plug incorporates an '0' ring to retain the Pitot Tube where it is positioned and allows the
tube to traverse over the full height of the working section to measure the velocity profile
inside the working section of the tunnel.
The two flexible tubes from the Pitot Static tube incorporate a quick release connector that
allows it to be connected to one of the optional manometers. The Pitot Static is of Prandtl
design and may be used with a negligible correction up to angles of yaw of at least 5
degrees.
Wake survey Rake -The rake consists of 10 stainless steel tubes positioned vertically in a
row and pointing towards the airflow. The rake is mounted downstream of the model being
used via the small access hatch in the side wall of the working section. The tubes are
mounted at a fixed pitch of 5mry1 and are connected via flexible tubing to a multi-way quick
release connector to suit the C15-11 or C15-12 manometers.
When used with models such as the C15-16 Pressure Wing, readings can be taken from the
pressure tapings on the model and the Wake Survey Rake Without changing any settings by
simply swapping the release connector on the e taken appropriate manometer.
Pressure Wing- A symmetrical aerofoil incorporating 10 tapping points distributed around
the wing profile that allow the pressure distribution to be measured from the leading edge to
the trailing edge. The wing is mounted in the horizontal plane through the side of the
working section, and the angle of attack is adjustable by rotating the circular hatch.
Although only instrumented on one side, the effective pressure distribution on both surfaces
can be obtained by inclining the aerofoil at positive and negative angles of attack. Machined
to NACA 0015 profile, the aerofoil has the same section as 015-20 to allow direct comparison
of pressure distribution with the lift characteristics.
The tapping points are all flush with the surface of the aerofoil and connected via flexible
tubing to a multi-way quick release connector to suit the C15-11 or 015-12 manometers.
The NACA 0015 is one of a standard series of aerofoils. The 00 indicates that the two faces
are symmetrical. The 15 indicates that the air foil has a 15% thickness to chord (width) ratio,
i.e. its thickness is 15% of its chord. This ratio is fairly typical for low-speed aerofoils, and
possible applications include boat rudders as well as aircraft wings.

SPECIFICATIONSWorking Section:
Cross section is 150mm*150mm

THEORY Stagnation pressure Po is the pressure a fluid exerts when it is forced to stop moving.
Consequently, although a fluid moving at higher speed will have a lower Static pressure P,
it may have a higher stagnation pressure when forced to a standstill. Static pressure and
stagnation pressure are related by:

The basic equation governing the motion of inviscid, incompressible flow is the Euler
equation:

Here,
u is the flow velocity vector.
s is the specific pressure (pressure per unit density).
Basic principle Pitot static tube
The basic principle behind the static pressure measurement using the Pitot-static tube is the
Eulers equation. The Euler equation normal to the streamline can be written as -

Here as you can see, if the streamlines are straight, then the static pressure variation normal
to the streamline can be neglected.
This is the basic principle used in Pitot - static tube for static pressure measurements where
the small holes along the straight tube (which keeps the streamlines straight) help in
measuring the static pressure of the flow just above the hole. The Pitot - static tube also
gives the stagnation pressure by stopping the flow hence measuring the total pressure i.e.
static + dynamic pressure.
A favourable pressure gradient is one in which the pressure decreases in the flow direction.
It is called favourable because it tends to overcome the slowing of fluid particles caused by
friction in the boundary layer. This pressure gradient arises when the free stream velocity U
is increasing with x, for example, in the converging flow field in a nozzle. On the other hand,
an adverse pressure gradient is one in which pressure increases in the flow direction, it is
called adverse because it will cause fluid particles in the boundary-layer to slow down at a
greater rate than that due to boundary-layer friction alone. If the adverse pressure gradient
is severe enough, the fluid particles in the boundary layer will actually be brought to rest.
When this occurs, the particles will be forced away from the body surface (a phenomenon
called flow separation) as they make room for following particles, ultimately leading to a
wake in which flow is turbulent. Example of this is a diffuser.

During the flow around aerofoil, fluid particles flowing along the top of the wing surface
experience a change in pressure, moving from the ambient pressure in front of the wing, to
a lower pressure over the surface of the wing, then back up to the ambient pressure behind
the wing. The region where fluid must flow from low to high pressure (adverse pressure
gradient) is responsible for flow separation. If the pressure gradient is too high, the pressure
forces overcome the fluid's inertial forces, and the flow departs from the wing contour. The
pressure gradient increases with an increasing angle of attack. So as angle of attack
increase flow separations come early corresponding to lower angle of attack.

Basic flow around an aerofoil-

OBSERVATIONS1.