Instrumentation and Calibration of Wind Tunnels

Calibration of the wind tunnel test-section to ensure uniform flow character- istics everywhere in
the test-section is an essential requirement in wind tunnel operation. In this section, we show the
calibration required and the associ- ated instrumentation to study the flow characteristics in the
test-sections of subsonic and supersonic wind tunnels.

Low-Speed Wind Tunnels

We know that a low-speed airstream is characterized by the distribution of its dynamic
pressure, static pressure, total pressure, temperature, flow direc- tion, and turbulence level.
From these details, the flow velocity and Reynolds number for any specific model can be
computed. In other words, the instru- mentation and calibration of low-speed tunnels
involve the determination of the following.
1. Speed setting: calibration of true air speed in the test-section
2. Flow direction: determining the flow angularity (pitch and yaw) in the test-
section
3. Turbulence level
4. Velocity distribution: determination of flow quality
5. Wake survey: determination of flow field in the wake of any model

Speed Setting
Consider the flow in a subsonic wind tunnel, schematically shown in Fig- ure 3.24.
Measure the static pressure at the entry and exit of the contraction cone, at stations AAand
BB. Applying the incompressible Bernoulli equation, we can write
p A + q A = p B + q B − k1 q B ,
where p A and p B are the static pressures at sections AA and BB, and q A and q B are the
corresponding dynamics pressures, respectively, and k1 is the pressure drop coefficient due
to frictional loss between stations AA and BB. Therefore,
Op = p A − p B = q B − q A − k1 q B . (3.43)
From the incompressible flow continuity equation, we have
AA V A = AB V B .

B C
Test-section

B C
A

FIGURE 3.24
Open-circuit tunnel.