Physics: Theses

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Construction of a Low-Speed Closed-Return Wind Tunnel
(Houghton College, 2019-05-11) Durbin, Jonathan
A small-scale, low-speed, closed-return wind tunnel is being designed and constructed at Houghton College to provide opportunities for further education and new research. Empirical correlations were used by previous researchers to generate a preliminary design based on various constraints. Examples of such constraints include the size of the room, the speed within the test section, and the desired flow quality. The wind tunnel will be 4.72 meters long, have an area ratio of 5.45 between the nozzle and test section, a maximum test section speed of 44.7 m/s (100 mph), and one side of the wind tunnel will be made almost entirely out of plexiglass. The wind tunnel will also have a maximum Reynolds number per meter of 3×106 (Reynolds number per foot of 9×105). In this thesis, specific attention is given to one of the diffusers and two of the corners. Additional details for the other components of the wind tunnel will be presented and future work discussed.