Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering · 2 credit hours
Instructor: M Arshad Zahangir Chowdhury
Course Description: This course is designed to provide aeronautical engineering students with the hands-on experience of laboratory testing needed by engineers and researchers in the field. The course concentrates on experimental techniques associated with subsonic wind tunnel testing, including wind tunnel characterization; pressure, force, and aerodynamic coefficient measurements; and hot-wire anemometry to measure velocities. All hardware experiments are conducted in a 2'×2' closed-return wind tunnel.
Course Goals: Train students on the basic principles of operation of a low-speed wind tunnel; provide experience and knowledge of experimental instrumentation used to perform velocity, pressure, and direct force measurements; and correlate experimental observations to theory previously learned.
Assessments: Lab reports, pre-lab assignments and quizzes, and a final exam.
Offerings: I have taught this laboratory 3 times: Fall '24, Spring '25, and Spring '26 (ongoing).
Prerequisites: MANE-4070 Aerodynamics.
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to demonstrate:
The course is built around six hardware-based wind tunnel experiments, developing progressive understanding of the tunnel and experimental methods over the semester (subject to change).
| Experiment Module |
|---|
| Introduction, lab safety, and report writing guidelines |
| Low-speed wind tunnel characteristics and operations |
| Pressure distributions and wake measurements on a 2-D circular cylinder |
| Pressure distributions and wake measurements on 2-D airfoils |
| Aerodynamic forces and moments on airfoils, and flow visualization |
| Drag of shapes and surfaces (bluff bodies) |
| Full model experiment: aerodynamic characteristics of a vehicle of your choice |