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Old 03-21-2014, 06:55 PM   #363 (permalink)
aerohead
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air speed

Quote:
Originally Posted by CFECO View Post
At what speed are all these tests done? I'd think if the air was going 100 mph the flow would be much different than if it was going ten MPH. Without knowing the speed for each test photo, they are basically meaningless.
For the lengths of contemporary automobiles,the turbulent boundary layer and Cd are established at around 20-mph and remain constant up to around 250-mph,when compressibility affects kick in.
So a smoke trace photo would look essentially the same between 20,and 200+ mph.
Since the electric motors powering the wind tunnels can be in the thousands of horsepower range,the lower the test section velocity,the more economical the operation.And you can imagine the volume of smoke necessary to even show up at high tunnel velocities.
In the testing section of Hucho's books he shows the specifications of most leading automotive wind tunnels.
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