Design, Construction, and Testing of the Return Portion of a Closed Return Wind Tunnel

Abstract

A low-speed closed-return wind tunnel is being designed and built at Houghton College. Preliminary efforts focused on choosing the layout and appropriately sizing the tunnel. Once this work was complete, individual components could be designed and built. This thesis will discuss detailed design, construction, and preliminary testing of critical components in the return portion of the wind tunnel: a 90-degree corner, the fan, and a diffuser. Corners are used in the wind tunnel to turn the flow so that the tunnel forms one continuous loop. To provide flow, a fan is utilized. Lastly, the diffusers are used to decrease the flow velocity in all regions except for where testing is taking place. Test results will be shown and future work discussed.