HIGHSPEED AERODYNAMICS

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UNIT-5
5. HIGH SPEED WIND TUNNELS 9 Blow down, indraft and induction tunnel layouts and their design features, Transonic, supersonic and hypersonic tunnels and their peculiarities, Helium and gun tunnels, Shock tubes, Optical methods of flow visualization.

Introduction to Wind Tunnel

The "Wind tunnel" is a facility, by artificially producing airflow relative to a stationary body, that measures aerodynamic force and pressure distribution to simulate the actual flight of airplane or orbiting plane in the air. Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908), a Council Member of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, reported as the inventor and designer of the first enclosed operating wind tunnel in 1871.

A wind tunnel is a research tool developed to assist with studying the effects of air moving over or around solid objects. Ways that wind-speed and flow are measured in wind tunnels: Threads can be attached to the surface of study objects to detect flow direction and relative speed of air flow. Dye or smoke can be injected upstream into the air stream and the streamlines that dye particles follow photographed as the experiment proceeds. Pitot tube probes can be inserted in the air flow to measure static and dynamic air pressure. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) can be used for flow visualization study.

is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air. Among the common conventions for qualifying airspeed are: indicated airspeed ("IAS"), calibrated airspeed ("CAS"), true airspeed ("TAS"), equivalent airspeed ("EAS") and density airspeed. The measurement and indication of airspeed is ordinarily accomplished on board an aircraft by an airspeed indicator ("ASI") connected to a pitot-static system. The pitotstatic system comprises one or more pitot probes (or tubes) facing the on-coming air flow to measure pitot pressure (also called stagnation, total or ram pressure) and one or more static ports to measure the static pressure in the air flow. These two pressures are compared by the ASI to give an IAS reading. is the speed of an aircraft relative to the ground. Information displayed to passengers through the entertainment system often gives the aircraft groundspeed rather than airspeed. Ground speed can be determined by the vector sum of the aircraft's true airspeed and the current wind speed and direction; a headwind subtracts from the ground speed, while a tailwind adds to it. Winds at other angles to the heading will have components of either headwind or tailwind as well as a crosswind component. An airspeed indicator can only indicate the aircraft's speed relative to the air mass. The air mass as a whole may be moving over the ground due to wind, and therefore some additional means to provide position over the ground is required. This might be through navigation using landmarks, radio aided position location, inertial navigation system, or GPS. When more advanced technology is unavailable, an E6B flight computer is often used to calculate groundspeed. Ground speed is quite different from airspeed. When an aircraft is airborne the ground speed does not determine when the aircraft will stall, and it doesn't influence the actual aircraft performance such as rate of climb.

Airspeed

Ground speed

Different types of wind tunnels

Wind tunnels are often denoted by the speed in the test section relative to the speed of sound. The ratio of the air speed to the speed of sound is called the Mach number. Tunnels are classified as subsonic (M < 0.8), transonic (0.8 < M < 1.2) , supersonic (1.2 < M < 5.0) , or hypersonic (M > 5.0). The distinction by Mach number is caused by the relative importance of compressibility effects. For subsonic flows, we may neglect the effects of compressibility. For transonic and supersonic flows, compressibility effects must be considered. For hypersonic flows, we must make additional considerations for the chemical state of the gas. The scaling effects of the Mach number can be theoretically derived from the conservation of momentum of the air in the tunnel. Compressibility affects the design of the test section of a wind tunnel: for subsonic tunnels, the test section has the smallest cross-sectional area of the tunnel; for supersonic tunnels, the throat of the nozzle has the smallest area and the test section area is chosen to achieve a desired Mach number in the test section. Wind tunnels in general are used for testing purposes and aero-dynamical optimization. They are specially designed to simulate airflow like in open air and flow velocity as close as possible to reality. It is of great importance to avoid non-uniformities, because a slight difference in airflow may change the behaviour of the tested object, and furthermore provide false information to the aerodynamicist, who consequently make the wrong decisions.

There is always a small vent, called a "breather", somewhere in the circuit so that the internal pressure does not increase as the air heats up during the run. The breather is best located in a part of circuit where inner air is close to atmospheric pressure. Usually that is around the perimeter at the downstream end of the test section. This compensating inflow through the breather is bad for diffuser performance but easy to detect by releasing smoke just outside the breather.

Model Test and Scale Effect

Example on the importance of Reynolds Number
If an aero plane needs testing of its wing, one can make a scaled down small model of the wing and test the wing as table top model in the lab with the same Reynolds number the actual air plane is subjected to. The results of the lab model will be exactly similar to that of the actual plane wing results. Thus we need not bring a plane into the lab to test it actually. This is the example of "dynamic similarity." This is what Reynolds number is all about. Since a real airplane is too large to be accommodated to a test section in the wind tunnel, a reduced scale model with same shape as the real airplane is usually used. In the wind tunnel test, two parameters, Mach and Reynolds numbers, must have the same value to simulate real airplane flight with high fidelity. Mach number is the ratio of flow velocity to sound velocity. Mach number is assumed to be zero in low speed wind tunnel that does not take the compressibility of airflow into account. Reynolds number depends on velocity, density and viscosity of the flow (usually airflow) and model size. But it is difficult to adjust the Reynolds number in the wind tunnel test to that of real airplane. The wind tunnel test requires not only the production of airflow with good quality and the accurate measurement of aerodynamic forces and pressure, but also the Reynolds number correction to the data obtained.

Differences between flight and wind tunnel tests are induced by not only Reynolds number but also test section wall that does not exist in the flight test and model support system (strut etc.) in the test section. Therefore high fidelity simulation of the flight of real airplane through the removal of these adverse effects is the main technical problem of wind tunnel test.

MEASURING AIR VELOCITY AND PRESSURE

Consider the subsonic wind tunnel shown in the above figure. Often, the velocity of the air in the test section (v2) is important to know. Also, many times it is desirable to change the velocity of the air with in the test section and look at how our test object responds at different velocities. We can use the continuity equation and Bernoullis equation to help us measure the velocity in the test section (v2).

Continuity equation: v1A1 = v2A2 Bernoullis equation: p1 + v12 = p2 + v22

v2 =

2( p1 p2 ) (1 ( A2 / A1 )2

We can easily find the velocity of the test section, v2 with this equation. We know the ratio of the area of the inlet to the ratio of the test section (A2/A1) by measuring. The pressure difference between the test section and the inlet can be measured with a manometer.

COEFFICENT OF PRESSURE CALCULATION Coefficient of Pressure is a dimensionless number since the units in the formulas will be in the form of a ratio and cancel out. The equation used to calculate the coefficient of pressure is:

P = Cp 1 v2 2
Where: Cp = Coefficient of Pressure P = the pressure of the airfoil - the pressure of the wind tunnel = density v = velocity of the wind tunnel

Requirements of the wind tunnel models The mass forces of the model must be as small as possible, in order to receive a favorable relationship from aerodynamic forces and moments to the mass and inertial forces. The elastic deformation should be as small as possible.

Wind Tunnel Design

Wind tunnels are designed for a specific purpose and speed range. Therefore, there are many different types of wind tunnels and several different ways to classify wind tunnels. Blowdown tunnels are normally used from high subsonic to high supersonic flow conditions. There are several possible configurations for a blowdown tunnel. On the figure, we show completely closed supersonic configuration. The test section sits at the end of a supersonic nozzle. The Mach number in the test section is determined by pressure and temperature in the plenum and the area ratio between the test section and the nozzle throat. As the flow expands in the nozzle, the pressure decreases and any moisture in the tunnel may condense and liquefy in the test section. To prevent condensation, air is brought into the tunnel through a dryer bed. The air is pumped into a closed high pressure chamber upstream of the plenum. At the same time, air is pumped out of a closed low pressure chamber downstream of the test section. Test times are limited in blowdown wind tunnels. At the beginning of the test run, valves are opened upstream and downstream of the test section. The pressure ratio establishes a supersonic flow in the test section and the air flows from the high pressure chamber to the low pressure chamber. As air leaves the high pressure chamber, the pressure in the chamber decreases. Likewise, as air enters the low pressure chamber, the pressure in that chamber increases. Eventually, the pressure in the two chambers equalized, the flow stops, and the test is finished. To provide constant conditions in the test section, a pressure regulator valve is normally installed in the plenum. A second throat is often employed downstream of the test section to shock down the supersonic flow to subsonic before entering the low pressure chamber. A closed configuration with both high pressure and low pressure chambers is shown in the figure, but there are other configurations of blowdwon tunnels. Some blowdown tunnels, called indraft tunnels, do not use a high pressure chamber, but open the plenum chamber to the atmosphere. The indraft tunnel uses the low pressure (vacuum) chamber downstream of the test section to produce flow. The advantage of this configuration is that the conditions in the plenum remain constant and there is no need for a pressure regulator. The disadvantage is that the pressure ratio across the test section is usually lower than a closed configuration and therefore the maximum Mach number is lower. Another configuration retains the high pressure chamber, but exits to atmosphere instead of into a low pressure chamber. The advantage of this configuration is that it is cheaper than a closed configuration in both construction and operation. But the tunnel is very loud and normally requires some type of muffler downstream of the test section.

Advantages of the Blowdown Tunnel

High Mach capability. Easy tunnel "starting". Lower construction and operating costs. Superior design for propulsion and smoke visualization. There is no accumulation of exhaust products in an open tunnel. Smaller loads on model during startup because of faster starts. Shorter test times require faster (often more expensive) instrumentation. Need for pressure regulator valves. Noisy operation.

Disadvantages of the Blowdown Tunnel

Power requirements
The power required to run a supersonic windtunnel is enormous, of the order of 50 MW per square meter of test section. For this reason most wind tunnels operate intermittently using energy stored in high-pressure tanks. These windtunnels are also called intermittent supersonic blowdown wind tunnels. Another way of achieving the huge power output is with the use of a vacuum storage tank. These tunnels are called indraft supersonic wind tunnels. Other problems operating a supersonic wind tunnel include: enough supply of dry air wall interference effects fast instruments needed for intermittent measurements Tunnels such as a Ludwieg tube have short test times (usually less than one second), relatively high Reynolds number, and low power requirements.

Ludwieg tube
The Ludwieg Tube was invented by Hubert Ludwieg (1912-2000) in 1955 in response to a competition for a transonic or supersonic wind tunnel design that would be capable of producing high Reynolds number at low operating cost.

A Ludwieg tube is a cheap and efficient way of producing supersonic flow. Mach numbers up to 4 are easily obtained without any additional heating of the flow, with heating Mach numbers of up to 11 can be reached.

Principle
A Ludwieg tube is a wind tunnel that produces supersonic flow for short periods of time. A large evacuated dump tank is separated from the downstream end of a convergent-divergent nozzle by a diaphragm or fast acting valve. The upstream end of the nozzle connects to a long cylindrical tube, whose crosssectional area is significantly larger than the throat area of the nozzle.

Initially, the pressure in the nozzle and tube is high. To start the tunnel, the diaphragm is ruptured, e.g., by piercing it with a suitable cutting device, or opening the valve respectively. As always when a diaphragm ruptures, a shock wave propagates into the low-pressure region (here dump tank) and an expansion wave propagates into the high-pressure region (here the nozzle and long tube). As this unsteady expansion propagates through the long tube, it sets up a steady subsonic flow toward the nozzle, which is accelerated by the convergent-divergent nozzle to a supersonic condition.

The flow is steady until the expansion, having been reflected from the far end of the tube, arrives at the nozzle again. For practical reasons, flow times are on the order of 100 milliseconds. For many purposes this is a flow duration that is quite sufficient.

Shock tube

A shock tube is a device used primarily to study gas phase combustion reactions. Shock tubes (and related shock tunnels) can also be used to study aerodynamic flow under a wide range of temperatures and pressures that are difficult to obtain in other types of testing facilities.

Working of Shock Tube

A simple shock tube is a metal tube in which a gas at low pressure and a gas at high pressure are separated using a diaphragm. This diaphragm suddenly bursts open under predetermined conditions to produce a shock wave that travels down the low pressure section of the tube. This shock wave increases the temperature and pressure of the gas and induces a flow in the direction of the shock wave, creating the conditions desired for the testing being done. Once the incident shock wave reaches the end of the shock tube, it is reflected back in to the already heated gas, resulting in a further rise in the temperature, pressure and density of the gas.

Applications of Shock Tube

For aerodynamic testing, the fluid flow induced in the driven gas (The lowpressure gas, referred to as the driven gas) behind the shock wave can be used much as a wind tunnel is used. Shock tubes allow the study of fluid flow at temperatures and pressures that would be difficult to obtain in wind tunnels (for example, to replicate the conditions in the turbine sections of jet engines). The duration of the testing is limited, though, by the time available between the passage of the shock wave and the arrival of either the contact surface or the reflection of the shock wave off the end of the tube. In practice, this usually limits the available test time to a few milliseconds. A further development for aerodynamic testing is the shock tunnel, where a nozzle is placed between the end of the tube and a dump tank. As the shock wave reflects off the end of the tube it creates a region of very high pressure and temperature. Since the dump tank is pumped down to a low pressure (near vacuum), there is a very large pressure difference across the nozzle. Using a shock tunnel, very high temperature hypersonic flow can be created in the test section, located immediately behind the nozzle. This allows testing in conditions that can simulate re-entry of spacecraft or hypersonic transport; but again testing time is limited to the order of milliseconds. A hypersonic wind tunnel is designed to generate a hypersonic flow field in the working section. The speed of these tunnels vary from Mach 5 to 15. As with supersonic wind tunnels, these types of tunnels must run intermittently with very high pressure ratios when initializing. Since the temperature drops with the expanding flow, the air inside has the chance of becoming liquefied. For that reason, preheating is particularly critical (the nozzle may require cooling). High pressure and temperature ratios can be produced with a shock tube. There are several technological problems in designing and constructing a hyper-velocity wind tunnel:

supply of high temperatures and pressures for times long enough to perform a measurement reproduction of equilibrium conditions structural damage produced by overheating fast instrumentation power requirements to run the tunnel

Simulations of a flow at 5.5 km/s, 45 km altitude would require tunnel temperatures of as much as 9000 K, and a pressure of 3 GPa.

The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since individual physical changes in the airflow (like molecular dissociation and ionization) occur at different speeds; these effects collectively become important around Mach 5. The hypersonic regime is often alternatively defined as speeds where ramjets do not produce net thrust.

Subsonic tunnel
Low speed wind tunnels are used for operations at very low mach number, with speeds in the test section up to 400 km/h (~ 100 m/s, M = 0.3). They may be of open-return type, or closed-return flow with air moved by a propulsion system usually consisting of large axial fans that also increase the dynamic pressure to overcome the viscous losses.

Open wind tunnel

The working principle is based on the continuity and Bernoulli's equation: The continuity equation is given by:

The Bernoulli equation states:

Putting Bernoulli into the continuity equation gives:

The contraction ratio of a windtunnel can now be calculated by:

Closed wind tunnel

In a return-flow wind tunnel the return duct must be properly designed to reduce the pressure losses and to ensure smooth flow in the test section. The compressible flow regime: Again with the continuity law, but now for isentropic flow gives:

The 1-D area-velocity is known as:

The minimal area A where M=1, also known as the sonic throat area is than given for a perfect gas:

Transonic tunnel
High subsonic wind tunnels (0.4 < M < 0.75) or transonic wind tunnels (0.75 < M < 1.2) are designed on the same principles as the subsonic wind tunnels. Transonic wind tunnels are able to achieve speeds close to the speeds of sound. The highest speed is reached in the test section. The Mach number is approximately one with combined subsonic and supersonic flow regions. Testing at transonic speeds presents additional problems, mainly due to the reflection of the shock waves from the walls of the test section (see figure below or enlarge the thumb picture at the right). Therefore, perforated or slotted walls are required to reduce shock reflection from the walls. Since important viscous or inviscid interactions occur (such as shock waves or boundary layer interaction) both Mach and Reynolds number are important and must be properly simulated. Large scale facilities and/or pressurized or cryogenic wind tunnels are used.

de Laval nozzle
With a sonic throat, the flow can be accelerated or slowed down. This follows from the 1D area-Velocity equation. If an acceleration to supersonic flow is required, a convergentdivergent nozzle is required. Otherwise:

Subsonic (M < 1) then Sonic throat (M = 1) where Supersonic (M >1 ) then

converging

diverging

Conclusion: The Mach number is controlled by the expansion ratio

Schlieren technique: In this technique the density gradient in the flow

field is obtained in terms of the varying degree of the brightness on the screen; the degree of brightness or intensity of illumination is proportional to the density gradient into the flow field. The arrangement adopted in schlieren technique is shown in the below figure.

A beam of light is sent through the test section from the light source by a properly oriented concave mirror M1. The beam coming from the test section is reflected on to the screen or a photographic plate through two suitably located concave mirrors M2.and M3. A sharp knife edge is inserted at the focal point of the mirror M2.to intercept half the light. Thus in the absence of the flow through the test section the screen is illuminated uniformly by the light escaping the knife edge. But in the presence of flow the rays of light are differently deflected (as in a prism) on account of the variable density and the refractive index in the flow field. Therefore grater or lesser part of the light beam will now escape the knife edge. This gives a varying intensity of the illumination on the screen.

Gun Tunnels
The conventional high Mach number supersonic tunnels suffer from serious disadvantages of low temperature in the test section; this is overcome in the shock tube by accelerating the flow by a shock wave. The same principle in a slightly different way is employed in the gun tunnels. Here very strong shock waves are generated by a moving piston.

In a typical gun tunnel a multistage compressor raises the pressure of nitrogen to about 10,000 bar in a strong reservoir. One or more 5mm thick diaphragms are punctured in succession which forces the flow in a thick walled cylinder provided with piston. The movement of the piston and the resulting strong shock waves downstream generate very high Mach numbers (~ 10) in the test section. If the downstream pressure in the duct is reduced to a very small value still higher Mach number (~20) can be obtained. Such tunnels are used for studying hypersonic and non-equilibrium flows and meteorological problems.

Schematic drawings of the 3.5-foot hypersonic wind tunnel

Schematic drawing of the 3.5-foot tunnel pebble-bed heater

The pebble-bed heater, though serving perhaps for Mach numbers from 5 to 10, could not, it was clear, provide the heat required for representing the conditions encountered by reentry bodies. There was yet, however, a possibility of accomplishing this objective in a tunnel capable of operating for reasonably long periods of time. This possibility lay in the use of an electric arc to heat the air as it passed through the tunnel. The initial investigation of arc-heated jets was made in 1956 by Jeff Buck, R. W. Eglington, A. Kamiya, Merrill Nourse, and others. Later the work was continued by William Carlson and Carl Sorenson. First investigated were some arc-jet ideas, which had originated in Germany. This study, however, was just the beginning of work. Aside from keeping the tunnel walls and electrodes from melting, one of the problems in the design of an arc-jet facility arose from the contamination of the air by vaporized material from the electrodes. The problems in the development of a practical arc-jet tunnel were obviously great, but the need for such a facility was also great and the project was pushed with ever increasing vigor.\

Sketch of hypersonic wind

NASA JPL's Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

Illustration of the 8'x6'/9'x15' Wind Tunnel Complex Description The 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel (8x6 SWT) is an atmospheric tunnel with perforated stainless steel walls that provide boundary layer control during transonic operations. It is the only transonic propulsion wind tunnel at NASA. Aircraft such as the Advanced Turboprop, the National Aerospace Plane, the Advanced Tactical Fighter, the Joint Strike Fighter and the High Speed Civil Transport have been tested in this facility.

Schematic of a supersonic wind tunnel

ISENTROPIC FLOW OF A CALORICALLY PERFECT GAS THROUGH VARIABLE AREA DUCTS

We have,

Supersonic Wind Tunnel Design

Let us go through a small thought experiment. Assume that we want to design a supersonic wind tunnel with a test section Mach number of 3 (see Fig. 5.6). Some immediate information about the nozzle is obtained from Gas Table A.I; at M = 3, Ae/A* = 4.23 and po/pe = 36.7.

 A second alternative is to exhaust the nozzle into a constant area duct which serves as the test section, and to exhaust this duct into the atmosphere, as sketched in Fig. 5.15. In this case, because the testing area is inside the duct, shock waves from the duct exit will not affect the test section. Therefore, assume a normal shock stands at the duct exit.

The static pressure behind the normal shock is p2, and because the flow is subsonic behind the shock, p2 = p = 1 atm. In this case, the reservoir pressure p0 is obtained from where p2/pe is the static pressure ratio across a normal shock at Mach 3, is obtained from Table A.2.

Note that, by the simple addition of a constant-area duct with a normal shock at the end, the reservoir pressure required to drive the tunnel has markedly dropped from 36.7 to 3.55 atm.

Find out the reservoir pressure required to drive the tunnel at M=4.5 at test section

Normal shock properties

Now, as a third alternative, add a divergent duct behind the normal shock in Fig. 5.15 in order to slow the already subsonic flow to a lower velocity before exhausting to the atmosphere. This is sketched in Fig. 5.16. At the duct exit, the Mach number is a very low subsonic value, and for all practical purposes the local total and static pressure are the same.

 Moreover, assuming an isentropic flow in the divergent duct behind the shock, the total pressure at the duct exit is equal to the total

This is even better yetthe total pressure required to drive the wind tunnel has been further reduced to 3.04 atm.

The normal shock and divergent exhaust duct in Fig. 5.16 are acting as specific mechanism to slow the air to low subsonic speeds before exhausting the atmosphere. Such mechanisms are called diffusers, and their function is slow the flow with as small a loss of total pressure as possible. The ideal diffuser would compress the flow isentropically, hence with no loss of total pressure. For example, consider the wind tunnel sketched in Fig. 5 6. After isentropically expanding through the supersonic nozzle and passing through the test section, conceptually the supersonic flow could be isentropically compressed by the convergent part of the diffuser to sonic velocity at the second throat, and then further isentropically compressed to low velocity in the divergent section downstream of the throat. This would take place with no loss in total pressure, and hence the pressure ratio required to drive the tunnel would be unity a perpetual motion machine! Obviously, something is wrong. The problem can be seen by reflecting on the results of Chap. 4.! When the convergent part of the diffuser changes the direction of the supersonic flow at the wall, it is extremely difficult to prevent oblique shock waves from occurring inside the duct. Moreover, even without shocks, the real-life effects of friction between the flow and the diffuser surfaces cause a loss of total pressure. Therefore, the design of a perfect entropic diffuser is physically impossible.

Supersonic Flow
.Airspeed measurements in supersonic flow, that is, for M > 1, are qualitatively different from those for subsonic flow. In supersonic flow, a shock wave will form ahead of the Pitot tube, as shown in Fig. 4.21. Shock waves are very thin regions of the flow (for example, 10~4 cm), across which some very severe changes in the flow properties take place. Specifically, as a fluid element flows through a shock wave,

Shock wave

Figure 4.22 Changes across a shock wave in front of a Pitot tube in supersonic flow.
1. The Mach number decreases. 2. The static pressure increases. 3. The static temperature increases. 4. The flow velocity decreases. 5. The total pressure po decreases. 6. The total temperature To stays the same for a perfect gas. These changes across a shock wave are shown in Fig. 4.22. How and why does a shock wave form in supersonic flow? These are various answers with various degrees of sophistication. However, the essence is as follows. Refer to Fig. 4.16, which shows a Pitot tube in subsonic flow. The gas molecules that collide with the probe set up a disturbance in the flow. This disturbance is communicated to other regions of the flow, away from the probe, by means of weak pressure waves (essentially sound waves) propagating at the local. speed of sound. If the flow velocity V1 is less than the speed of sound, as in Fig. 4.16, then the pressure disturbances (which are traveling at the speed of sound) will work their way upstream and eventually will be felt in all regions of the flow. On the other hand, refer to Fig. 4.21, which shows a Pitot tube in supersonic flow. Here V1 is greater than the speed of sound. Thus, pressure disturbances that are created at the probe surface and that propagate away at the speed of sound cannot work their way upstream. Instead, these disturbances coalesce (unite) at a finite distance from the probe and form a natural phenomenon called a shock wave, as shown in Figs. 4.21 and 4.22. The flow upstream of the shock wave (to the left of the shock) does not feel the pressure disturbance; that is, the presence of the Pitot tube is not communicated to the flow upstream of the shock. The presence of the Pitot tube is felt only in the regions of flow behind the shock wave. Thus, the shock wave is a thin boundary in a supersonic flow, across which major changes in flow properties take place and which divides the region of undisturbed flow upstream from the region of disturbed flow downstream.