THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1950
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
PAGE THREE
15 Foot Model Wind Tunnel Is Being Built By Four Engineering Students
By DICK MARSHALL
A model single-return wind tunnel, 15 feet long and $6\frac{1}{2}$ feet wide, is being built by four students of the aeronautical engineering department to obtain research data which will apply to a larger tunnel proposed for use in the department.
Duane Carpenter, David Shoffner and Dick Stutz, graduate students, and Giles Smith, engineering senior, have been working on the project since May and expect to have it ready for limited demonstration at the spring engineering exposition.
The wind tunnel is a tube in which wind velocities are produced around a model airplane, simulating actual atmospheric conditions around a plane in flight. This model tunnel now under construction is designed to develop wind velocities up to 360 miles an hour.
The tube of the single-return tunnel is laid out around a rectangle to form a closed system, through which the same body of air is being propelled continuously. This technique of using a continuous circuit of air allows the tunnel to develop higher wind velocities for a given amount of power.
The new tunnel will develop higher wind velocities than the tunnel now in use, which will develop a maximum velocity of 80 miles an hour.
The present wind tunnel is an open-return tube that has been in use for 23 years and is now obsolete. The tube is 60 feet long and powered by a 75 horsepower electric motor. Although it will accommodate a model plane with a 3-foot wing span, it is inefficient for the newer model aircraft. The tunnel is located in the southwest corner of the stadium.
The model tunnel now under construction will accommodate only models with a 1-foot wing span, but the full scale tunnel will be able to test models with an 8-foot wing span.
The preliminary layout of the open return tunnel was designed by Reid Lyford, former assistant professor of aeronautical engineering, as a graduate thesis. The data was gathered from reports on similar tunnels that were in operation at that time.
The sizes of the different chambers in the tunnel vary in respect to the purpose of each. The power section is circular and has an inside diameter of 17.4 inches.
tear the tunnel to pieces instantly. To direct the flow of air around the corners of the tunnel, 44 turning vanes are needed. They are also made of aluminum, and mounted on adjustable frames so that they may be set at the desired pitch from outside the tunnel. The vanes and propellers must be made to the closest machine tolerance to prevent turbulence and vibration.
From the power section, the tube of the return section along one side of the tunnel, expands to a large ellipse 2.1 feet by 2.4 feet. In the test section the tube is tapered down to a small ellipse 1 foot by 7 feet.
The power section consists of a 10 horsepower electric motor and two counter-rotating aluminum propellers, 17 inches in diameter. The four-bladed propellers were designed from British reports on propellers of this type which were used during the war. These props spin in opposite directions to eliminate the twist imparted to the body of air by their rotating movement.
The tube is made of grade A, seasoned white pine and will cost about $800. Tests will be made on the model for the next four years.
The biggest problem in the construction of the tunnel will be to construct the power section so as to eliminate all vibration from the counter rotating propellers which spin at 6,000 revolutions a minute. The slightest vibration in the power mechanism, at this speed, would
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