Low Speed Water Tunnel

Department of Management and Engineering (IEI)

used by :

Applied
Thermodynamics and
Fluid Mechanics

Infomation

General Information

The Flow Visualization Water Tunnel is

a closed circuit system suitable for
studying a wide range of aerodynamic
and fluid dynamic phenomena.
The unit with a test section of
380x500x1520 mm provides a
maximum test section flow velocity of
36 cm/s.

Infomation

General Information

Equipment

Balance

To measure the forces on the model in

the water tunnel a 5 component
balance is available with a maximum
diameter of 13 mm and a length of
167.5 mm, which uses high-sensitivity
semi-conductor strain gages. High
sensitivity is required because
the model loads encountered in water
tunnels are quite small.

Normal
Yaw

Side

Roll
Pitch

Equipment

Balance

Results

Balance

Forces vs Angle of Attack for a 50 Degree Sweept Delta Wing at Velocity

0.18 m/s in LiUs Water Tunnel

1,20000
1,00000

Force [N]

0,80000
0,60000
0,40000
0,20000
0,00000
-0,20000

3
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Normal Force [N] -0,01887 0,02257 0,13096 0,24341 0,37732 0,52701 0,68055 0,81912 0,89181 0,95414
Side Force [N]
-0,00154 0,00338 -0,00470 -0,00259 -0,00579 -0,00967 -0,00620 -0,01262 -0,00945 -0,02016

Results

Balance

Moments vs Angle of Attack for a 50 Degree Sweept Delta Wing at

Velocity 0.18 m/s in LiUs Water Tunnel
0,01200

Moment [Nm]

0,01000
0,00800
0,00600

0,00400
0,00200
0,00000
-0,00200

3
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Pitching Torque [Nm] -0,00023-0,00057 0,00017 0,00143 0,00296 0,00440 0,00730 0,00883 0,01037 0,00918
Yaw Torque [Nm]
0,00030 0,00007 -0,00025-0,00001 0,00007 0,00013 0,00026 0,00017 0,00031 0,00049
Roll Torque [Nm]
0,00050 0,00088 0,00090 0,00136 0,00145 0,00240 0,00263 0,00168 0,00164 0,00201

Results

Coefficients

Balance
1,8
1,6
1,4
1,2
1
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
-0,2
CN
Cm
CC
Cn
Cl

3
-0,03313
-0,00041
-0,0027
0,000529
0,000876

Coefficients vs Angle of Attack for a 50 Degree Sweept Delta Wing at

Velocity 0.18 m/s in LiUs Water Tunnel

5
0,039621
-0,001
0,005939
0,000127
0,001536

10
0,229866
0,000293
-0,00825
-0,00044
0,001573

15
0,427244
0,002518
-0,00455
-2,2E-05
0,002382

20
0,662277
0,0052
-0,01017
0,000118
0,002553

25
0,925027
0,007731
-0,01697
0,000231
0,004218

30
1,194512
0,012808
-0,01088
0,000448
0,004624

35
1,437746
0,015503
-0,02215
0,000303
0,002944

40
1,565333
0,018204
-0,01658
0,000536
0,002877

45
1,674731
0,016119
-0,03539
0,000853
0,003536

Equipment

Camera System
The NI 1722 Smart Camera, powered by a 400 MHz
PowerPC processor, is a real-time target for
machine vision.
You can configure the NI Smart Camera with NI
Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI), an
easy-to-use stand-alone programming environment
for creating full visual inspection applications.
One camera is static and sidewise mounted at the
water tunnel. The other one is mounted at the
lower side at the water tunnel on a wagon to offer
the possibility to follow the model perpendicularly
by choosing any angle.

Equipment

Camera System
Type of camera:

Single-lens reflex digital camera

Effective pixels:

16.2 million

ISO sensitivity:

ISO 100 to 6400

Image sensor:

23.6 x 15.6 mm CMOS sensor; total pixels: 16.9 mio.

Image size:

(pixels) 4,928 3,264 [L], 3,696 2,448 [M], 2,464 1,632 [S]

Video:

offers high-image-quality full HD movie recording of 1,920 x 1,080/24p

Memory:

2x 16 GB ScanDisk SD memory cards

Equipment

UV Lightning
To visualize the flow around the model
UV lighting is used.
The two 336 ultra bright and 10mm
ultra violet LED panels provide enough
light to illuminate the whole water
tunnel test section.
Super-concentrate of glycol-free,
completely non-toxic colour
concentrate for water. Mix rate guide
from 1:5000 to 1:50 depending on
intensity required.

Results

Flow Visualisation

Results

Flow Visualisation

Results

Flow Visualisation

Results

Flow Visualisation

Results

Flow Visualisation

Results

Flow Visualisation

Nice Results by Accident

Flow Visualisation

Result

Flow Visualisation

Result

Flow Visualisation

Equipment

Model
To build the models for the water tunnel, a rapid prototyping machine is available. This gives us the
possibility to print any kind of intricate 3D CAD model in a fast and accurate way.
Since the models are build up in ABSplus thermoplastic it is easy to continue finishing them afterwards.

Projects

Projects at the Water Tunnel

flow vizualisation lab for aerodynamic lecture

studend reaserch project : Numerical and

Experimental Analysis of a NACA 2412 Airfoil

CFD Analysis of a NACA 2412 Airfoil

UAV helicopter body flow simulation

Aerodynamics TMMV01

Water Tunnel Analysis of a NACA 2412 Airfoil

Projects

Future Projects
Control Program

Projects

Future Projects
Presure measurement system

Projects

Future Projects
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) 2D / 3D

Projects

Future Projects
Light Field Volumetric Velocimetry (LLVV)

Publications

Publications at the Water Tunnel

PHD dissertation by Cameron Munro, Water Tunnel

Validation and Experiments at high Angles of Attack
for Aircraft Conceptional Design, 2003
PHD dissertation by Christopher Jouannet, Model
Based Aircraft Design ( High Angel of Attack
Aerodynamics and Weight Estimation Methods), 2005
Paper by Munro, Krus, Jouannet, Implications of
Scale Effect for the Prediction of High Angle of Attack
Aerodynamics, 2005

Contacts

Contact us

Prof. Matts Karlsson

Division of Applied Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
Department of Management and Engineering
Linkping University
SE-581 83 Linkping
Sweden
Phone: +46 13 281199