Open-Loop Subsonic Suction Type Wind Tunnel: Design, Simulation, Build and Test

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Authors

  • Kok-Hoe Wong Carbon Neutrality Research Group (CNRG), University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia
  • Weldon Lai Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia
  • Jing-Hong Ng Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia
  • Ahmad Fazlizan Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), The National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Kamaruzzaman Sopian Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
  • Niranjan Sahoo Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.105.2.204223

Keywords:

Open-loop wind tunnel, subsonic, suction type wind tunnel, CFD, turbulence intensity

Abstract

The technological advancement in drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), wind turbines, and airfoil research has grown rapidly since last decade. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is commonly used to study the airflow around a body. Yet, the wind tunnel is an essential instrument in aerodynamic research; however, a commercial wind tunnel normally comes with a small test section and incurs high investment costs. This paper presents the development of a low-cost subsonic open-loop wind tunnel for research and education purposes. The suction-type wind tunnel is intentionally designed with a large test section of 1 m2 and in modular form where each section can be rectified according to the application and for different wind tunnel parameter studies. The detailed design steps, fabrication method, and build of the tunnel are described, along with the flow analysis that has been conducted. Furthermore, a 3D CFD simulation has been performed to simulate the flow condition of the wind tunnel where a good agreement between the simulation and flow measurement is observed. The potential root cause for discrepancy and comparisons with other wind tunnels are discussed. From the preliminary test, wind flow velocity and the turbulence intensity (TI) obtained from the flow measurement are 5.16 m/s and 3.14 % respectively. The TI is less than < 5%, which is considered a medium turbulence case that is good to study the flow around small-scale specimens like micro wind turbines and UAVs.

Author Biographies

Kok-Hoe Wong, Carbon Neutrality Research Group (CNRG), University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia

k.h.wong@soton.ac.uk

Weldon Lai, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia

wwhl1n20@soton.ac.uk

Jing-Hong Ng, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton Malaysia, 79100 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia

jhn1n20@soton.ac.uk

Ahmad Fazlizan, Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), The National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

a.fazlizan@ukm.edu.my

Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

ksopian@ukm.edu.my

Niranjan Sahoo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India

shock@iitg.ac.in

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Published

2023-06-12

How to Cite

Kok-Hoe Wong, Weldon Lai, Jing-Hong Ng, Ahmad Fazlizan, Kamaruzzaman Sopian, & Niranjan Sahoo. (2023). Open-Loop Subsonic Suction Type Wind Tunnel: Design, Simulation, Build and Test: -. Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, 105(2), 204–223. https://doi.org/10.37934/arfmts.105.2.204223

Issue

Vol. 105 No. 2: May (2023)

Section

Articles

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