Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T09:20:47.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Self correcting wind tunnels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

W. R. Sears*
Affiliation:
Cornell University

Extract

One of the early triumphs of the Lanchester-Prandtl wing theory was that it explained the effects of wind tunnel boundaries and provided explicit and simple formulae to correct wind tunnel measurements for these effects. As every aerodynamicist knows, this theory tells us, with the help of “images”, that the boundaries, in the presence of a lifting wing, produce extraneous velocity components in the flow. At least two generations of experimenters have routinely corrected their angles of attack and their measured drag values for the presence of the vertical component.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1974 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Millikan, C. B. On the lift distribution for a wing of arbitrary plan form in a circular wind tunnel. Trans ASME: Applied Mechanics. Vol 54, No 18, p 197, 1932.Google Scholar
2. Silverstein, A. and White, J. A. Wind tunnel interference with particular reference to off-centre positions of the wings and to the downwash at the tail. NACA Rep 547, 1936.Google Scholar
3. Lotz, I. Korrektur des Abwindes in Windkanälen mitkreisrunden oder elliptischen Querschnitten. Luftfahrt-forschung, Vol 12, p 250, 1935. Translated in NACA TM 801,1936.Google Scholar
4. Wright, R. H. and Ward, V. G. Transonic wind tunnel sections. NACA RM L8J06, 1948.Google Scholar
5. Monti, R. Wall corrections for airplanes with lift in transonic wind tunnel tests. Prepared at request of Fluid Dynamics Panel of AGARD, 1971.Google Scholar
6. Lo, C. F. Wind-tunnel wall interference reduction by streamwise porosity distribution. AlAA Journal, Vol 10, No 4, p 547, 1972.Google Scholar
7. Mokry, M. Comment on “Wind-tunnel wall interference reduction by streamwise porosity distribution”. AlAA Journal, Vol 10, No 12, p 1727, 1972.Google Scholar
8. Lo, C. F. Reply by author to M. Mokry. AlAA Journal, Vol 10, No 12, p 1727, 1972.Google Scholar
9. Lukasiewicz, J. (ed). Aerodynamic test simulation: lessons from the past and future prospects. AGARD Rep 603, p 21, 1972.Google Scholar
10. Heyson, H. H. The flow throughout a wind tunnel containing a rotor with a sharply deflected wake. Proc Third CAL/AVLABS Symposium on Aerodynamics of Rotary Wing and V/STOL Aircraft, Vol II, Buffalo, NY, 1969.Google Scholar
11. Heyson, H. H. General theory of wall interference for static stability tests in closed rectangular sections and in ground effect. NASA TR R-364, 1971.Google Scholar
12. Lo, C. F. and Binion, T. W. Jr. A V/STOL wind-tunnel wall interference study. Journal of Aircraft, Vol 7, No 1, p 51, 1970.Google Scholar
13. Ferri, A. and Baronti, P. A method for transonic wind tunnel corrections. AlAA Journal, Vol 11, No 1, p 63, 1973.Google Scholar
14. Lissaman, P. B. S. Proposal for feasibility study of interference free wind tunnel. AeroVironment Inc, Pasadena, Calif, 1972.Google Scholar
15. Preston, J. H. and Sweeting, N. E. Experimental determination of the interference on a large chord symmetrical Joukowski aerofoil spanning a closed tunnel. ARC R & M 1997, 1942.Google Scholar
16. Lock, C. N. H. and Beavan, J. A. Tunnel interference at compressibility speeds using the flexible walls of the rectangular high-speed tunnel. ARC R & M 2005, 1944.Google Scholar
17. Preston, J. H., Sweeting, N. E. and Cox, D. K. The experimental determination of the two-dimensional interference on a large chord Piercy 12/40 aerofoil in a closed tunnel fitted with a flexible roof and floor. ARC R & M 2007, 1944.Google Scholar
18. Adler, A. and Hindersinn, K. An experimental investigation of wall interference effects on Bell X-l models in two perforated-wall transonic wind tunnels. Cornell Aero Lab Inc, Rep AD-760-A-1, 1957.Google Scholar
19. Wilder, J. G., Hindersinn, K. and Weatherston, R. Design of an air supply system and test section for research on scavenging systems for propulsion wind tunnels. Wright Air Development Center, WADC Tech, Rep 56-6, 1955.Google Scholar
20. Spreiter, J. R. and Alksne, A. Y. Theoretical prediction of pressure distributions on nonlifting airfoils at high subsonic speeds. NACA Rep 1217, 1955.Google Scholar
21. Heaslet, M. A. and Spreiter, J. R. Three-dimensional transonic flow theory applied to slender wings and bodies. NACA Rep 1318, 1957.Google Scholar
22. Spreiter, J. R., Alksne, A. Y. and Hyett, B. J. Theoretical pressure distributions for several related nonlifting airfoils at high subsonic speeds. NACA TN 4148, 1958.Google Scholar
23. Erickson, J. C Jr. and Nenni, J. P. A numerical demonstration of the establishment of unconflned-flow conditions in a self-correcting wind tunnel. To be published. A preliminary version appears in Calspan Rep RK-5070-A-1, 1973.Google Scholar
24. Mccune, J. E. The transonic flow field of an axial compressor blade row. Journal of Aero Sci, Vol 25, No 10, p 616, 1958.Google Scholar