Experimental Analysis Of The Impact Of A Compressed Air Wind Tunnel Facility On A Rotorcraft Wake

Author : Jayden Slotnick
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (144 download)

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Download or read book Experimental Analysis of the Impact of a Compressed Air Wind Tunnel Facility on a Rotorcraft Wake written by Jayden Slotnick and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the area of rotorcraft design and development, successful scale model testing is critical to perfecting a design. In many areas of aerospace engineering, full scale vehicles are scaled down to model size to test the effectiveness of a design. The benefits of scale model testing are extensive as it significantly reduces the cost to be able to test at model size as opposed to full size. At Pennsylvania State University, there is a newly constructed Compressed Air Wind Tunnel (CAWT) that will be extensively used for rotorcraft testing. This facility is a closed loop wind tunnel that is bound by an inner test section diameter of 41 inches. There are unanswered questions of whether the facility or measurement methods can impact the wake of a scale model rotorcraft. The effects of testing inside the CAWT may include blockage, wake constriction, and recirculation. To examine these effects, a basic 3 bladed rotorcraft geometry was supplied to Pennsylvania State University by Joby Aviation. The model was 3D printed and tested outside the CAWT in a free air environment in hover conditions at an airport hangar with the overall dimensions of 70'x63'x25'. The model was also tested inside the wind tunnel under similar conditions. Both the measurements in the free air environment and inside the CAWT showed expected signs of wake spreading and a decrease in maximum velocity as wake measurements were taken further downstream of the rotor. The results also showed self-similarity after scaling the velocity profile by the maximum velocity and the wake width in the intermediate to far wake regions which occurred as measurements were made between 2 and 3 diameters downstream. One key difference that was found in the data sets taken outside and inside the CAWT was that there was evidence of recirculation in the measurements taken inside the wind tunnel. However, due to testing equipment limitations, the small velocities had a relatively large uncertainty. In future experiments such as thrust or wake measurements for a rotor in hover, careful consideration must be made to account for potential recirculation and possible mitigation techniques may be needed. In summary, the CAWT at Pennsylvania State University will be instrumental for scale model testing and this thesis will provide a detailed analysis of testing effects due to the CAWT with supporting evidence from the experiments that have been conducted.