Flow Illustrator - a simple windtunnel simulator

[rohitgupta]

I just checked the website and found that the flow illustrator movie maker is not available for download there. Is it possible for someone to send me the software? I need it for testing airfoils for my RC airplane. I would really appreciate if someone helps me with this.

Thanks,
Rohit.

[Sven7]

The site says if you want it to ask the guy directly. Use the link on the site (under Movie Maker) to request the software.

[rohitgupta]

Have sent an email. Waiting for the reply. Thank You.

[doviatt]

Originally Posted by KamperBob

I played around with Flow Illustrator. I can't figure out if I'm using it wrong or if it is really inaccurate. Here is a 256x128 mask of Phil's template.



The flow field is not hugging curvature at all. The tail is shedding a KV street.



Re = 2500000 (2.5e6)
dt = 0.1 (0.01 wasn't working)
length = 40s
cutoff = 10 (40 wasn't working)

Can anyone tweak FI to validate this case?

Is there a velocity and a steady direction variable missing? I don't know or have the SW. Just a thought....

[ChazInMT]

Is there a velocity and a steady direction variable missing?

There is a "Follow the directions of the creator" variable missing. According to Dr. C, Re should be set between 100 - 1000. Since 2.5 million falls just outside that range, it's not surprising that a funky result was obtained.

Point is moot anyway, flow illustrator is broke for now. There may be a stand alone version of it created so we can just have it on our own computers and make movies to our hearts content.

Something else to bear in mind, Dr. Chernyshenko has said repeatedly that this is pretty much a toy, you need to know what your results should look like, then you tweek the Flow Illustrator parameters till it looks right. People I have seen usually get this backwards and start making the tail wag the dog by putting up illustrations of their creations and saying "See it works!". All they have really done is create a pretty picture with no real science behind it. I know I was guilty of this before I understood it better.

[thirdman]

Has anyone experimented with the stand-alone version of Flow Illustrator yet?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by doviatt

Is there a velocity and a steady direction variable missing? I don't know or have the SW. Just a thought....

I don't know when the program will be up again,but I have some values to compare to.
If the program is evaluating 3-D flow in a 'free-flow' condition you should see Cd 0.04.That's from Hucho.
If it's evaluating for ground proximity flow you should see Cd 0.08.
If it's evaluating for 2-D flow in free flow,as in a wing section of strut,at the Reynolds number its at,and the thickness chord ratio,you should see a 'drag per unit length' value of 0.0861,Re:S.Goldstein.
There are no values for wings or struts in ground proximity.

[mbarrus]

It's back up. Just type "Flow Illustrator" in Google and it should be the first result at the Imperial College London website.

[RRC]

What represents velocity equals 100? Is it 100kph?
How to adjust this to for example 50kph (30mph)?

[ChazInMT]

Czesc RRC,

Flow Illustrator is not something to "Test" a design with, it is intended to be used to illustrate what flow might look like --->> If you already know what it looks like! <<---

In other words, you adjust the settings until the flow looks like it should. It is really nothing more than a toy, it is designed to provide a short movie illustrating approximately what you think the fluid (air or liquid) is doing as it passes over a 2d object.

It is fun to play with and helps to gain an understanding of how the different variables affect flow.

So 100 is simply just a number bigger than 90 and smaller than 110, it really does not represent any particular speed in the real world.

I hope this helps you understand this a little better.

BTW, Moja Zona jest Polka. z Wroclawia.