Quote:
Originally Posted by ksa8907
I don't mean to be rude, but are you fully aware of the cost involved in building a wind tunnel for testing? The size of the project? I'm not exagerating at all, youre talkin millions.
Have you researched what kind of facilities car companies have?
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Professionally built wind tunnels cost a lot.
That's why I think there's some room for this amateur built yet pro sized tunnel.
Pros
Special variable RPM electric motors
Us
Discarded airplane engines
Pros
Custom built propellers
Us
Discarded airplane propellers
Pros
Designed by well paid engineers
Us
Designed at no cost by us
Pros
Built by well paid contractors
Us
Built by the local drywall and sheetmetal contractors
Pros
Curved walls and windows and their supporting ribs.
Us
Flat walls and windows
I'm thinking that while less efficient a rectangular section tunnel can be built to avoid the costs of round walls, windows and floor.
Pros
Custom made dual-curvature nozzles, diffusers, vanes and flow conditioners usually requiring custom molds.
Us
Simple flat or single curvature nozzles, diffusers, vanes and flow conditioners made from plain sheet metal or drywall.
Pros
Specially made to order flow straighteners
Us
simple straighteners made from sheet metal or thin wall tubes
and so on
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Quote:
Originally Posted by niky
A sustainable non-profit must factor in the costs of construction and amortization for that funding if it's to be a continuing operation. Otherwise, it'll fold after a few years, as you are not charging enough to maintain it or to save up for upgrading and eventual replacement.
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So true
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kennybobby
You may want to have two test chambers--one for small models in addition to the full scale testing.
The inside wall shape will need to be designed by you using aerodynamics just as in wing and foil design. The inside wall could be built like an airplane--structural frame covered by thin sheetmetal skin with countersunk rivets, etc.
The range of speeds you want to test will help determine how much energy and power you need. Determine the volume of the chamber and consider the weight/ mass of this much air moving at your speed as the base, then add the aero drag of the walls and of the test article. That will get you in the ballpark and will be quite large for full scale--that's why folks use small tunnels and models.
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Did you mean cocentric test sections one inside the other?
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