Design and qualification of an experimental facility for performing fluid mechanics and heat transfer measurements in a turbulent channel flow over a two-dimensional obstacle

Abstract

A facility was designed to perform detailed fluid mechanics and heat transfer experiments in a turbulent channel flow over a two-dimensional obstacle. This document describes the design and fabrication of the air delivery system and uniform heat flux surface. The wind tunnel consists of a plenum section with 6,36 Mesh screens and 4cm long honeycomb, a 6.0 ratio contraction 1.1 8m in length, and a 2.64m long test section with plexiglas test surfaces. The uniform heat transfer surface was designed to be interchangeable with either floor of the test section and consists of eleven panels each instrumented with a heater and thermocouples; 21 to measure surface temperature and 3 to gauge heat losses. The heaters are controlled independently allowing a variety of heating configurations. Both hydrodynamic and heat transfer test surfaces can accommodate a fence of varied thickness and height. The instrumentation necessary to perform measurement and equipment control was assembled and proved to operate properly. Investigations of facility characteristics were performed. These results illustrate areas in which improvements can be achieved with further work, however, in general the system operates as intended.