ENME432L

Experimental demonstration Pressure Measurement around an Airfoil

(Note that this is not a formal lab report!!)
You are required to write a lab report based on the lab demonstration.
Introduction
The flow around an airfoil separates at the point at which an adverse pressure gradient develops, that is,
where the local static pressure begins to increase with respect to the stream wise direction along the wing.
Most of the drag around an airfoil results from the region of separated flow. Therefore, knowing where
this region starts allows for redesign of the airfoil to reduce drag. The change in the position of the
adverse pressure gradient will be demonstrated by measuring the pressure distribution around a CY-14
airfoil at three angles of attack and a representative Reynolds number.
Methods
The wind tunnel located in the fluid mechanics laboratory will be used for the measurements. A CY-14
airfoil, with an 8.9 cm chord and 18 pressure taps, will be mounted on a turntable located in the windtunnel test section, thus allowing the angle-of-attack to vary over the range -30 to 30. Pressures will
be measured using a water manometer with multiple taps. The manometer has a range of 40 mmH2O and
a resolution of 1 mmH2O that may be increased to 0.53 mmH2O by inclining its tubes to 45.
To compare the pressure distribution with results from analysis or tests using other airfoils, the local static
pressure is scaled by a characteristic pressure, in this case the dynamic pressure. The pressure coefficient
is thus defined as
Cp=(p-p)/(V 2/2)
where p is the local static pressure on the airfoil surface, p the upstream air pressure inside the wind
tunnel (static), the mass density, and V the upstream velocity. Further, if the Reynolds number,
defined as
Rec=cV /
where c is the chord length and the kinematic viscosity. If the Reynolds numbers are the same, results
for different size airfoils, other velocities, or different fluids may be compared.
Note that in indicator for the free-steam velocity is not accurate, the actual value of the free-steam
velocity is calculated from the difference between the total pressure and local static pressure (see the
notes). Preliminary calculation suggests that to achieve the free-stream velocity of 25 m/s, the pressure
difference should result in 38 mmH2O.
Procedure for measuring the pressure distribution is:
1. Fix of the airfoil.
2. Adjust the velocity of the wind tunnel to 20 m/s.
3. Record the pressures at the 18 taps on the airfoil.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for the other two .
V, p
p p p p
p3 p4 5 6 7 8 p9 p10
p2
p1
p11 p
p
p
12 p13 p14
p15 16 p17 18
Leading
Chord Line
Edge

Tail Edge

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the CY-14 airfoil and position of the pressure taps.

Data Table
Water height of each pressure tap h (mm)
station
number

position

1= -15
Top Surface

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P7

P8

P9

10

P10
Bottom Surface

P1

11

P11

12

P12

13

P13

14

P14

15

P15

16

P16

17

P17

18

P18

19

pair

20

2=0

3=15

Pre-lab report for the airfoil experiment

1. What is the main purpose of your experiment?
The main purpose of this experiment is to measure the pressure distribution around an airfoil and
the pressure coefficient.
2. Write the necessary expressions associated with your experimental purposes.
Rec=cV /
Cp=(p-p)/(V 2/2)
where Rec is the Reynolds number, c is the chord length and is the kinematic viscosity, V is the free
stream velocity, p the local static pressure on the airfoil surface, p is the upstream air pressure (static),
and is the fluid density.
3. How will you measure the variables or obtain the values of the parameters shown in #2?
A) the density of air is obtained from a fluid dynamics textbook
B) the kinematic viscosity of air is obtained from a fluid dynamics textbook
C) the chord length is given in the data sheet
D) the pressure is measured by a U-tube manometer with multiple taps
p is the static pressure upstream and is measured by
four wall pressure taps located on the surface of the
wind tunnel. Note that one of the manometer taps is
connected to the ambient air. Thus, p is calculated by
the following equation:
p = pair + wg(hair -h)
p is the local static pressure on the airfoil
surface and is measured by the tap connected to the
airfoil surface. Note that there are 18 pressure taps
hi
located on the airfoil surface. Depending on the
hair
h
location i, pi is calculated by
pi = pair + wg(hair -hi), i=1, 2, ....., 18
E) The velocity is measured by the dynamic
Pair,Vair=0
pressure of the upstream pressure. Applying
p
Bernoullis equation along a streamline, one can write
Vair 2
V2
pair +
= p +
2
2
hair
h
Note that Vair = 0 since it is located outside of the wind
tunnel. Thus, the upstream velocity of the wind tunnel
is V = 2( pair p ) /
4. Write the experimental protocol
A) The airfoil is mounted on the turntable with an angle-of-attack =0 in the wind tunnel and all
pressure tabs are connected to the water manometer.
B) Turn on the wind tunnel and adjust the velocity of the wind tunnel to 20 m/s.
C) Record all the variables in #3
D) Repeat steps A to C for the other two .