ON-DEMAND PROJECT / BUILD A WIND TUNNEL 1 © 2005 PRAKKEN PUBLICATIONS, INC. tech directions Build a Wind Tunnel Mike Fitzgerald is technology education specialist, Office of … … Technical Education, Indiana Department of Education, Indianapolis. He taught at Driver Middle School, Winchester, IN, when he wrote this article. By Mike Fitzgerald mfitzger@doe.state.in.us Photo 1—Completed wind tunnel THIS article will give you basic information on constructing a wind tunnel that you can use for instructional

THIS article will give you basic information on constructing a wind tunnel that you can use for instructional activities with your students for many years to come. I will illustrate and describe the procedure and materials that I developed in constructing my own wind tunnel, but readers should view this information only as a guide. I am not an expert at wind tunnel design nor am I an aerospace engineer. I am simply a teacher who wanted to use a wind tunnel with my students. I lacked enough funding to purchase a unit though a science or technology education supplier, so I built my own from bits and scraps! The wind tunnel that you construct may vary due to parts availability, your personal resourcefulness and your final design and construction techniques. I started building the wind tunnel described here in 1998. While looking for a suitable fan unit, I learned that my father-in-law had an old unit in the storage shed buried beneath a mass of bicycles. Two weeks and about $200 of simple improvements later, I built my first wind tunnel based on the TEA Wind Tunnel plans (Chapin & Cook, 1988). I had received the plans as an undergraduate student from the Center for Implementing Technology Education at Ball State University. I recommend that you locate the TEA Wind Tunnel guide or a set of similar plans available via the Internet before beginning construction of your wind tunnel. I will include some basic illustrations, photographic details, supplier information and the recommendations that I would consider if I decide to construct another wind tunnel. Background Roberts (2001) describes hydrodynamics as the study of how fluids and gases move around an object. He further states that the study of hydrodynamics is important in that fluid movements help determine the shape and function of many vehicles. “A ship needs to slip through the water to move quickly. An automobile needs to divert air around its shell to improve fuel economy. An airplane needs to slow down the air traveling beneath its wings to create lift” (p. 10). Konstantin Tsiolkovsky also experimented with the study of fluid movement, in 1892. He developed prototypes of wind tunnels that he used to study and measure aerodynamics concepts. His contributions helped lead to the understanding of aerodynamics employed by race car drivers, pilots and engineers today. There are basically two kinds of wind tunnels. One pushes air around a test object, and the other kind pulls air over an object. Using a wind tunnel allows consistent testing of models in a test chamber, as well as for making measurements. Aerospace engineers use wind tunnels to study mockups and prototypes of aircraft, rockets and spacecraft. They collect data so they can design better aircraft. They may use a wind tunnel to study the flight characteristics of a mockup before spending money on a prototype aircraft. They also investigate such factors as the lift characteristics of the aircraft, how the control surfaces react at various speeds and the aircraft’s drag characteristics. Aerospace designers perform these same activities on a prototype before flight testing to help ensure test pilots’ safety.

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