Aerodynamics, Flight Stuff- for a Project

[Rasori]

I have a science teacher who's offered to help me out with airplane stuff since he know's that what I want to do. He's said we'll look into aerodynamics courses and the like at nearby colleges, maybe look for some nearby wind tunnels or something for some sort of internship. That's cool of him.

He told me to think about projects I could do and so I've been thinking. There're a couple of possibilities I'd really like to look into, but would probably be too complex or too expensive (or both) for me to really manage. I was considering making a model (as in R/C, since I have a controller that could manage that right now) but that seems expensive and quite possibly a bit too complex for me. Another concept I thought up with my dad's help was to look into making a miniature wind tunnel. That's probably more manageable in both aspects, but there are a couple problems. I'm pretty sure that scale speed winds will have the same affect on a wing if it's scale sized (and weighted). For instance, 18 mph winds would have the same affect on a 10lb, 100 inch wing that 180 mph winds would have on a 100lb, 1000 inch wing (just throwing numbers out, correct me if that seems wrong though.) The problem is getting scale weights.

 

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone has any other ideas, or if anyone knew anything about the two projects I mentioned that could help me out- like price estimates and just how hard it would probably be.

 

Once again, thanks for any help I may get, since you guys at SFN have never let me down before.

[coquina]

I used to work with NASA Langley Research Center on projects for their wind tunnel. The most complicated issue is how you hold the model in the tunnel so it will "fly",

 

We built "stings" and "balances". The "sting" has a male taper to fit the female taper in the model, as I remember (it's been a long time) the "balance" goes after that. It is machined from a solid piece of round bar about a foot long. It has a hole all the way through it. Then slots are cut through the outside dimeter into the inside diameter so that the model is suspended by four thin beams. Other deep narrow slots are machined in the balance as well for "strain gages". One end is connected to the model and the other end is connected to the balance. They measure how much wing flexes. I believe they put something like smoke in the windtunnel around the model so the air movement can be seen and recorded.

 

For all I know, they might have a different method by now, since computers have come such a long way.

 

Just looked - Langley Research Center has a "Wind Tunnel University" - here,

http://wte.larc.nasa.gov/indexflash.cfm try contacting them.

[Rasori]

Quite useful, thank you. I'll look into it.

Even so, yes, I am still open to ideas

[Mokele]

For all I know, they might have a different method by now, since computers have come such a long way.

 

Well, I was in aerospace grad school not so long ago, and while computer simulations are now a big thing, as are computer controls for wind tunnels and the models in them, as far as I know, it's pretty much the same.

 

Mokele

[coquina]

Are you at Wright Pat?