The FluMeS department houses a water tunnel for experimetal research. The tunnel is an Eidetics 1520 unit with a test section of 380x500x1520mm and maximum test section flow velocity of 36 cm/s.
The tunnel features a support rig with LabVIEW controller interface to enable changes in angle of attack and sideslip. A 5-component balance (no axial force) is used to obtain force and moment data.
The primary purpose of the tunnel has been to perform flow visualisation studies on Reynolds insensitive flows such as those above delta wings at high angles of attack. Numerous studies, including those at Linköping University have shown that the vortex trajectories and breakdown locations are equivalent in the water tunnel to higher Reynolds number wind tunnel data.
Last updated: 2013-11-20