Wind Tunnel Experiments: Wind and Pressure with Real World Application
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-College Senior |
| Discipline(s): |
Aerospace Engineering Earth Sciences Mechanical Engineering Ocean Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Teaching - Laboratory/Experiment/Field Activity |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Richard Keen |
| Description: | Experiment as part of a weather lab. "Wind Tunnel experiments are used in meteorology and engineering sciences to investigate flow over and around obstacles, such as mountains, airplane wings, or vehicles, under controlled conditions. This experiment is designed to examine the relationships between wind speed and the pressure it exerts, the effect of high winds on vehicles, and the mechanism by which very high winds can destroy buildings. This laboratory exercise consists of three parts. Part I. Use a wind tunnel to establish the wind-pressure relationships when air flows over a flat surface. A "pitot tube" sensor and a turbine anemometer are used to obtain both pressure and windspeed. The Excel spreadsheet will fit a curve to your data, and you will compare your equation describing the wind-pressure relationship with the theoretical equation. Part II. Measure the effects on wind on model vehicles, and then scale the results upward to predict the effect of wind on full-size vehicles. Part III. Finally, we will measure the distribution of pressure (force per unit area) when air flows over a model Quonset hut. This exercise will also give us some insight into what might happen when air flows over a building in a severe windstorm, such as a tornado or hurricane (check out this video of what actually to a building when a tornado passed over it). Extrapolation is necessary because our little wind tunnel cannot generate wind speeds comparable to those, say, in a tornado." |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | wind tunnel fluid dynamics aerodynamics |
| Is Component of: |
Weather Lab |
| Usage Tip | |
| Related ABET Criteria: |
(b) Design and conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data |
| Use of Resource: |
Well documented laboratory experiment with questions and grading rubric. |
| Difficulty: |
Medium |
| Interactivity Level: |
Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | May 2008 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://atoc.colorado.edu/wxlab/windtunnel/index.html |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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