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Wind Tunnel Wing Test Interactive

With this simulation you can investigate the design of a wind tunnel model by changing the geometry of a representative wing model.

General Instructions

This program is designed to be interactive, so you have to work with the program. There are a variety of choices which you must make regarding the display of results by using a choice box. A choice box has a descriptive word displayed and an arrow at the right of the box. To make a choice, click on the arrow, hold down and drag to make your selection. The current values of the design variables are presented to you in boxes. By convention, a light box with dark numbers is an input box and you can change the value of the number. A dark box with light numbers is an output box and the value is computed by the program. To change the value in an input box, select the box by moving the cursor into the box and clicking the mouse, then backspace over the old number, enter a new number, then hit the Enter key on your keyboard. You must hit Enter to send the new value to the program. For most input variables you can also use a slider located next to the input box. Click on the slider bar, hold down and drag the slider bar to change values, or you can click on the arrows at either end of the slider. At any time, to return to the original default conditions, click the Reset button at the lower left of the program.

If you experience difficulties when using the sliders to change variables, simply click away from the slider and then back to it. If the arrows on the end of the sliders disappear, click in the areas where the left and right arrow images should appear, and they should reappear.

Screen Layout

The program screen is divided into three main parts:

  1. On the top left side of the screen is the View Window. The view window includes a graphic of the wing model that you are designing and a slider which control the graphic. Details of the window are given in the Graphics section of this page.
  2. On the right side of the screen is an Engineering Drawing of your model. The size and scale of the model is given at the bottom of the panel. Clicking on the words “Double” and “Half” will change the size of the picture.
  3. On the lower left side of the screen is the Input/output Panel. Details of the variables are given below.

Please note: the simulation below is best viewed on a desktop computer. It may take a few minutes for the simulation to load.

Graphics

The View Window contains a computer drawing of the wing model that you are designing and some controls for the schematic drawing. You can move the picture within the window by moving the cursor into the window, holding down the left mouse button, and dragging the model to a new location. You can also “Zoom” in close to the model by using the green slider at the left of the window. If you get lost, pushing the yellow Find button will return the model to the initial position.

Input/output Variables

The input/output variables are located on the panel that is displayed at the lower left. There are five input variables; the type of airfoil, the camber (curvature), thickness, chord, and span of the wing. The meanings of these terms are described on the geometry web page of the Beginner’s Guide. As you vary any of the input variables, the resulting geometry is shown in the view window and the drawing window. Output from the program includes the wing projected area and the aspect ratio which are also defined on the geometry page. Calculations can be performed in either Imperial or Metric units by using the choice button at the bottom of the page.

New Features

The Education Programs Office will continue to improve and update TunnelSys based on user input. Changes from previous versions of the program include:

  1. On 5 Aug 09, version 1.0g was released. This is the first released version of the program. This version was derived from the application version by Anthony Vila of Vanderbilt University during a summer intern session at NASA Glenn.
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