Introduction To Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel (utm-lst)

UTM LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

November, 2008

LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

Prepared by Assoc Prof Ir Dr Shuhaimi Mansor Head of Aeronautical Engineering Laboratory Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

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UTM LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

November, 2008

Page

1. Introduction to UTM Wind Tunnel Facility 2.1 Test Section 2.2 Fan Motor and Drive System 2.3 Settling Chamber

2 2 3 4

2. Facility Arrangement

4

3. Balance and Model Support System

5

4. Surface Pressure Measurement

7

5. Flow Visualization

8

6. Facility Control System

8

APPENDIX

9-13

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1. Introduction to UTM Wind Tunnel Facility The UTM low speed wind tunnel is commissioned in 2001 and has served for more than 7 years. Our clients include researchers from universities and designers from industries such as USM, UTeM, UPM, MINDEF, MODENAS, PROTON and others. UTM wind tunnel has capability to provide wide range of testing include aircraft, ground surface vehicle and industrial aerodynamics such as building, bridges, street-lantern light and wind turbine. General Arrangement of the wind tunnel is shown in Figure 1. There are three important components in the wind tunnel which is known as test section, fan-motor and settling chamber.

Fan Diffuser Cross leg 2

Fan & Motor

Settling Chamber .Honeycomb .Heat Excahnger .Screens

Test Section Cross-leg 1

Figure 1. Wind tunnel components

1.2 Test Section Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel (UTM-LST) is capable of delivering maximum airspeed of 80 m/s (160 knots or 288 km/hr) inside the test section. The test section size is 2.0 m wide x 1.5 m height x 5.5 m length. The wind tunnel has an excellent flow quality (flow uniformity < 0.15%, temperature uniformity < 0.2o, flow angularity uniformity < 0.15o, turbulence < 0.06%). With good flow quality and facility, UTM-LST is confident to deliver high accuracy and good repeatability of wind tunnel test results.

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UTM LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

November, 2008

Figure 2. Aircraft model is installed in the test section and attached to a 6-components balance/load-cell to measure aerodynamic forces and moment in 3-dimensional loads.

2.1 Fan Motor and Drive System UTM wind tunnel is propelled by 430 kW ac Motor from ABB with Allen Bradley drive system. The measured power consumption of the motor with test section wind speed is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Fan-motor and power consumption with wind speed.

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2.2 Settling Chamber Settling chamber is an area where the flow is control using honeycomb and three screens. Honeycomb is used to straighten the flow while the screens are used to reduce the turbulence intensity. Heat exchanger is used to reject heat generates from air friction and maintain the test section temperature at normal condition. Figure 4 shows the effect of heat exchanger on test section temperature. o

o

Cooling System Test at 70 m/s, set temp=27.8 C, ambient=27.0 C

40 38

Cooling OFF o 0.29 C/minutes

o

Temperature ( C)

36 34 32

Cooling ON o 0.06 C/minutes

30 28 26

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Time (minutes)

Figure 4. Heat exchanger to maintain test section air temperature.

Figure 5. Honeycomb is used to straighten the flow and screen is used to reduce the turbulence intensity.

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November, 2008

3. Facility Arrangement The wind tunnel is housing inside the Aeronautical Engineering Laboratory building. The wind tunnel is furnished with compress air facility for general purpose applications. The test section is connected to wind tunnel control room via metal structure platform.

Figure 6. Wind tunnel arrangement and control room

4. Balance and Model Support System The wind tunnel is equipped with a 6-component balance for load measurements. The balance is a pyramidal type with virtual balance moment at the centre of the test section. The balance has a capability to measure aerodynamic forces and moment in 3-dimensional. The aerodynamic loads can be tested at various wind direction by rotating the model via turntable. The accuracy of the balance is within 0.04% based on 1 standard deviation. The maximum load range is ±1200N for axial and side loads (i.e. drag force and side force). The wind tunnel is originally furnished with 3-strut support system as shown in Figure 7. This type of model support system is commonly used in most well known wind tunnels (e.g. DNW Holland, NLR German, IAR-NRC Canada and ILST Indonesia).

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Figure 7. Wind tunnel Balance and Model Support System

Various model support systems had been designed to accommodate various types of model tests requirements. It ranges from a simple single strut to 4-strut support system. Figure 8 to 11 shows some of the examples of model support systems in UTM wind tunnel.

Figure 8. Assembly of bridge model on 3-struts support

Figure 9. Assembly of street lantern light using single-strut support

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Figure 10. Assembly of helicopter model using 2-strut support

Figure 11. Assembly of Proton Savvy model on 4-strut support

5. Surface Pressure Measurement Surface pressure measurement is using electronic pressure scanner 128 port scanivalve system.

Figure 12. Surface pressure measurement of the roof

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6. Flow Visualization Flow visualization is a qualitative technique to visualise the flow pattern on the surface of the model. Smoke is commonly use for flow visualization.

Figure 13. Flow visualization using smoke and oil

7. Facility Control System Fully integrated automatic Control, Data Acquisition and Reduction System (DARS)

Figure 14. Facility control with automatic control, data acquisition system

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Contact Person Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Shuhaimi B Mansor Head of Aeronautics Laboratory Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Skudai, JOHOR Tel: 07 5535845, Fax: 07 5535997, Mobile: 019 7799778, Email: [email protected]

APPENDIX

TEST CAPABILITIES • • • • •

Aircraft Surface Vehicle Wind Engineering Offshore structures Internal flow

•

•

Building models

Aircraft model

•

Automotive model Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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UTM LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

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UTM-LST Flow Quality Parameters

Measured value

Velocity Spatial Uniformity

0.13 %

Temperature spatial uniformity

0.16 °C

Flow Angularity, pitch

0.13o

Flow Angularity, Yaw

0.13 °

Axial Wind Speed Gradient

0.0003°/m

Flow Angle Gradient, pitch

0.003°/m

Flow Angle Gradient, Yaw

0.070°/m

Velocity Temporal Uniformity

0.046 %

Temperature Temporal Unifermity

0.08 °C

Axial Turbulence Intensity, Urms/U, 5 Hz
0.037 %

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

Pressure Measurement •

Capability 128 pressure ports

•

2 x 64-port Electronic Pressure Scanner (Scanivalve DMS 3000 ZOC Series)

•

Pressure rating 1 psid, 5 psid FS

•

+/- 0.08 FS accuracy

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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UTM LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL

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Airflow Test Equipment •

Hotwire Anemometry System (Dantec Dynamics)

•

Smoke Generator

•

Laser Sheet System

•

5-hole Probe, 7-Hole Probe

•

Wake Rake

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

Balance Load Range Type of Balance

Load Component and Accuracy External

Semi-Span

Internal

Axial Force, Fx (N)

± 1200

± 900

± 182

Side Force, Fy(N)

± 1200

± 900

± 356

Normal Force, Fz (N)

± 4500

± 4500

± 445

Roll Moment, Mx (Nm)

± 450

± 1362

±7

Pitch Moment, My (Nm)

± 450

± 250

± 62

Yaw Moment, Mz (Nm)

± 450

± 450

± 50

Primary Accuracy, % (based on ± 1 standard deviation)

0.04

0.04

< 0 .10

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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Training Providers • • • • • •

Indonesia Low Speed Wind Tunnel, ILST-LAGG (Indonesia) Aiolos Engineering Corporation (Canada) Institute of Aerospace Research, IAR-NRC (Canada) Carleton University (Canada) University of Western Ontario UWO-BLWT (Canada) Aerodynamic Model and Research Inc. AMR (Canada)

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

Cooperation & Networking • 4 m x 3 m Low Speed Wind Tunnel Facility (Indonesia) • • • •

Technical assistance (planning, technical requirements) Training Joint Research Program Testing Services

• Institute of Aerospace Research, IAR-NRC (Canada) • • • •

Training Post-Commissioning/Expert Services Joint Research Program Testing Services Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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Cooperation & Networking Subsonic Aerodynamics Testing Association (SATA) •

world-wide organization for operators of low speed aerodynamic testing facilities (since 1965)

•

Membership from all major wind tunnel facilities DNW, Boeing, NASA, GM, Ford, IAR-NRC etc.

•

provide at the operational level a means of interchange of ideas, techniques, and solutions. General area of interest:

• Design, performance, and economics of test facilities. • Physical measurement, instrumentation, and handling and reduction of data • Facility operation and maintenance •

UTM to be a member 2001/02 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Low Speed Wind Tunnel

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