Facilities, Instrumentation, and Other Equipment
Construction of the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory on the °µÍø½ûÇø's East campus was completed in November of 2015. The Low-Speed Research Wind Tunnel was installed in October of 2015 and a thorough qualification of the flow qualitiy will be conducted during the Spring 2016 Semester. The architectural design of the building was performed by Chistopher Herr Architects, who put signficant thought into configuring the brick work to artistically display the wind sweeping across the building's exterior.
Below is a breif listing of the test facilities, instrumentation and other equipment in the Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory. For more information about experimental capabilities and possible collaboarations please contact the laboratory director Professor John Farnsworth.
Test Facilities:
A new a Low-Speed Wind Tunnel facility is currently being built and installed in the Experimental Aeronautics Laboratory. The wind tunnel is an open-return Wenham (Blower) type low-speed tunnel designed and manufactured by . It has a 0.8 m square test-section that is 5 m long. The tunnel is driven by a 100 HP motor to achieve test section velocities up to approximately 65 m/s (Mach 0.2). Significant portions of the test section are constructed from cast optical-grade acrylic providing unobstructed optical access throughout most of the field.
Origonally constructed as part of an AES senior project the high-speed (or compressible) flow test cart is currently being refurbished to investigate novel methods for thrust vectoring in high-speed nozzles. This apparatus can be reconfigured to test a variety of high-sped flows from free jets to small scale supersonic confined flows.
The Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department maintains and opperates a small-scale Eiffel Configuration Windtunnel for educational laboratory assignements in the at the °µÍø½ûÇø. The wind tunnel was built by and has a 0.3 m square test section that is 0.6 m long. It cam achieve test section air speeds from 4.5 m/s to 65 m/s.
