Leifur Þór Leifsson, Assistant Professor at the School of Science and Engineering
A low-speed wind tunnel for fluid mechanics research was designed and constructed at the School of Science and Engineering (SSE) this spring. The wind-tunnel is specifically designed to operate in the low Reynolds number regime to provide the capability of studying (1) unsteady flow past flapping flexible structures with chord based Reynolds numbers on the order of 105 or less, and (2) the effects of large scale shear and straining motions on small scale structure and particle dynamics in turbulence. The wind-tunnel is of open-jet suction-type and is driven by an axial fan controlled by a variable frequency drive. The tunnel entrance, 2 m by 2 m, consists of a flow conditioning section and an 8:1 area contraction ratio, resulting in 71 cm square entrance to the open jet test section. The overall length of the tunnel is around 8 meters from the inlet section to the fan inlet. The free stream velocities in the tunnel range from nominally 0 to 30 m/s by altering the frequency on the variable frequency drive. The wind-tunnel is equipped with basic fluid flow instrumentation, a high-precision force balance, and a state-of-the-art particle image velocimetry (PIV) system for flow visualization. The tunnel was designed by faculty at the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and fabricated by undergraduate students in a three week practical project course. The fabrication was funded by SSE. Further information can be found here http://projects.ru.is/wind-tunnel/.
