AME Aerodynamics Laboratory Spring 2008 Instructor: Robert C. Nelson Office: 106 Hessert Laboratory Telephone: Office hours: By appointment

Laboratory Experiments Lab Groups will be assigned. Your Lab group time will be selected on the Friday before the week the laboratory is scheduled. Read the Laboratory Handout before coming to the Lab. All Experiments will be performed in tunnels at the Hessert Lab.

What is a wind tunnel? A wind tunnel is a device that can be used to test aerospace vehicles or their components under controlled conditions. From Wind Tunnel Testing by Pope

Why do we need experimental facilities like wind tunnels? Wind tunnels are used to obtain aerodynamic information on aircraft bridges, buildings, automobiles and various other objects. Wind tunnels have been designed for a wide range of flight speeds. What type of information can we gain from a wind tunnel test and why is it important?

Minimizing Design Risk Wind tunnels help designers to build confidence in their design. Experiments provide information so that the designer and corporate leaders can confidently commit to a major new development program.

What does it cost to build a new Subsonic Jet Transport? Design time for a new transport aircraft is approximately 4.5 years. The Company must pay thousands of engineers and support people to design and develop the airplane. For example, Airbus has probably had to mortgage the net worth of the company to finance the development of the A380. If the A380 is not successful the Airbus would be in big trouble financially.

Airbus A380 Gross weight 1.2 million pounds 555 to 840 passengers Maximum range 10,000 miles 20% more efficient than B

Course Goals To understand how experimental techniques can be used to provide improved understanding of aerodynamic phenomena. To appreciate ethical issues dealing with experimental studies. To be able to critical assess experimental information. To be able to present your results in a well written technical report. To be able to present a good oral presentation of your work. To be able to work effectively as a member of the team. To be able to design an experiment.

Course Handouts Course Schedule Course Policy Report Format Peer Review report Laboratory handout Supplemental material

Course Policy You must attend your assigned laboratory session. Failure to do so will result in a zero for that laboratory exercise. Laboratory reports must be turned in on time. Late reports will be penalized. For the individual lab report you will collect the data as a group but you must not collaborated with anyone in analyzing the data or in writing up your report. Failure to do so will be an honor code violation. For group laboratory reports you should work as a team to collect, analyze, interpret and document your results in a clearly written technical report.

Grading Four group lab 10% each 40% One individual lab report 10% One group oral presentation 10% Quizzes 20% Examine 20% TOTAL 100%

Aerodynamics Lab TAs Jacob Cress B028 Hessert David Schatzman 115 Hessert Zachary Zikoski 321 Cushing Ahaddy Abado 117 Hessert

Aerodynamics Laboratory Experiments Force balance measurements on an airfoil. Pressure Distribution over an airfoil. Boundary Layer measurement over a flat plate. Measurement of propeller thrust and Torque. Measurement of finite wing aerodynamics.

Course Schedule