Aerodynamic and Structural Design of Flow Conditioning, Flow Seeding and Testing Sections of a High-Speed Wind Tunnel

This thesis presents the design of two test sections, one annular and one rectilinear, to facilitate the study of ducted flows at high subsonic Mach numbers on the Carleton high-speed wind-tunnel. The structural performance of the two designs was evaluated using finite element tools and were deemed compliant with provincial pressure-vessel regulatory requirements. Both designs benefit from lighter-weight materials and a greater degree of modularity than existing high-speed test sections. The aerodynamic performance of an annular-flow air-supply system was evaluated using a transient, one dimensional algorithm. The annular flow path provides a steady Mach number flow in the range of 0.3 to 0.8 at the test section discharge, with minimal pressure loss to achieve minimum run times of 25-30 seconds on a blow-down type wind-tunnel. The present study also evaluates the flow seeding performance of a seed injection system on the annular-flow air-supply system for particle image velocimetry measurements.