Visualizing Airflow

Naishal Patel
Independent Study and Mentorship
Mr. Wysong and Dr. Mullins
2/10/16
HTTP://ASTROENDEAVORS.WEEBLY.COM/

First off I would like to thank my parents for believing that I would go through with building the wind tunnel and
investing money in it.
I would also like to thank Mr. Wysong for having at least a fraction of the confidence I had in myself in regards
to completing this original work and ISM in general.
I would also like to thank all my friends who have provided me support through this ISM journey and believed
in me a little more than I did at times.
And last but not least, I would like to thanks Mr. Patterson for exposing me to the world of aerospace
engineering, widening my knowledge, and giving me the tools that are the foundation of this project. Without
your help and guidance my junior year, this analysis would have been impossible.

Table of Contents
Background: Airfoils/NACA................................................................................................................................................................1
The Misconception.............................................................................................................................................................................3
Purpose................................................................................................................................................................................................4
The Process.........................................................................................................................................................................................5
Making the Airfoils................................................................................................................................................................................6
Fabrication of the Airfoils...................................................................................................................................................................10
What is a Wind Tunnel?...................................................................................................................................................................11
Designing a Wind Tunnel.................................................................................................................................................................12
Fabrication of the Wind Tunnel........................................................................................................................................................13
Computer aided Visualization of Airflow.........................................................................................................................................14
Analysis of Computer Visualization.................................................................................................................................................16
Analyzing Graphs of Cl/Cd...............................................................................................................................................................17
Wind Tunnel Testing.........................................................................................................................................................................24
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................................................................25

Background:Airfoils/NACA
NACA was the Articles of Confederation to NASA as it was to the Constitution. It was an experiment
founded after the successful flight of the Wright Brothers. Although a small establishment and unknown for
the most part, it was a crucial part in establishing the aerospace industry and paving the road for NASA.
One of the primary things NACA had done was categorizing common airfoils and had established a system
in which future airfoils could be classified by 4 aspects each representing a different number. There are
many different series, the 4 number series being the most common yet least detailed. The first number
represents the max camber as a percentage, the second number describes the location of the camber from
the leading edge. The final 2 numbers represent the maximum thickness of the chord.

So for example, an airfoil with the NACA number 2412 has a maximum camber of 2% at .4 chords (40%)
away from the leading edge. The maximum thickness of the chord is 12%. NACA 2412 is the most
common and universally known NACA number and is used in 100s of different places. Though I have
explained some of the basics of airfoils, their purpose and how they work hasnt. There are an infinite ways
an airfoil can be shaped and there are as many uses for them. Infact a dolphin flipper acts in the same
fashion as an airfoil, except in a different fluid. Dragonflies also use the principle airfoils employ to fly with a
wing about 12mm thick. The way an airfoil creates left is highly dependent on the angle of attack. As the
picture shows, the angle of attack is the angles between the oncoming wind and the chord line.

As you angle the airfoil, the oncoming wind is deflected downwards and a subsequent force is exerted
upwards that is dubbed the aerodynamic force. Certain airfoils can generate this lift without an angle of
attack. This splitting of air creates a pressure difference with a lower pressure on the top and a higher
pressure on the bottom. According to Bernoulli's principle, a pressure difference can be attributed to a
velocity difference with the lower pressure relating to a higher velocity and a higher pressure to a lower
velocity. Through this and using the idea of circulation, the lift force is directly related to the average top
bottom velocity difference. Depending on shape, there are different lift to drag ratios as seen later on.
Overall, the way an airfoil work is by deflecting the oncoming wind downwards to create an equal and
opposite force upwards called lift.

On the left is a picture that shows a variety of

different airfoils that are seen in nature. Each
airfoil has a different shape and has a different
purpose too. The Supersonic interceptor and
sailboat both have extremely long airfoils but are
thin at the same time as they are concerned with
a higher surface area for more lift and less mass
for less drag. The turbine blade is also interesting
as it curved with an indent in the middle. This
airfoil is similar to the one as in the fan for the
wind tunnel. These airfoils are usually used for
vertical placement so they need some area in the
y-direction so the wind can hit it so that it will
move. Wind turbines employ curved blades like
that.

The Misconception
There is a huge controversy on how airfoils actually work. In fact many people still aren't sure 100% how
airfoils actually work and there are 2 major theories on how they do.

Newtonian Explanation
The Newtonian explanation says that the lift is
a matter of equal and opposite reactions. This
theory argues that lift is generated through
the deflection of wind downwards caused by
the upward angle of the airfoil. This angle of
attack causes air to be deflected straight
down and as a result there is a force going
straight up that is called lift.

Bernoullian Explanation

The bernoullian model is a bit more complex

and involves a bit more complicated physics.
This theory is alternatively called the equal
transit theory. It states that since the airflow
will meet behind the foils at equal point at an
equal time. This combined with the fact that
the air on the top travels a longer distance
compared to the bottom creates a pressure
difference. This pressure difference causes
the high pressure to go to low according
to Bernoulli and this difference causes the lift.

Which one is correct? There is much debate about this dilemma but NASA chooses to dismiss the latter as
the case and thus the deflection theory is being pushed more and more now.

Purpose
The process of creating a wind tunnel for my original work is certainly an ambitious undertaking and truing
to get it to work was an even bigger challenge in itself. It will be explained later what a wind tunnel is but
this project has definitely evolved overtime and had a definite fail safe in the case of a very likely failure at
one of the various points of stress. The first process was easy and really time consuming, but luckily was
completed very early on. The reason I chose to do this project was that this reflects my passion for
aerospace engineering as well as it is a really good look at how airfoils work and interact with the wind.
First off, a wind tunnel is a nice tangible product if it functions properly. Second, the potential of learning
from this project is immense. A wind tunnel has so many uses and it is really interesting to see objects
interact with the wind. The parts of the wind tunnel and the fabrication process itself is really interesting to
see and seeing a product that you painstakingly built actually work is a gratifying experience in itself. Every
major that has anything to do with automation most likely has their own wind tunnel or they borrow one.
The car you drive has at one point been in the design process where the car is analyzed for turbulence in a
wind tunnel. The wind tunnel I built was definitely going at subsonic speed. Subsonic speeds are those that
are going less than the speed of sound. This is useful to just look at the airflow of low speed objects.
Overall the purpose of this project and original work is to explore the fundamentals of aerospace
engineering and basic principles behind airfoils and fluid movement/dynamics. There were many options
when it came down to choosing something for my original work. But it had been a dream to make a wind
tunnel and see one in action, so I took advantage of this opportunity to create a wind tunnel. If I could show
kids how air flies around objects and get them more interested in aerospace engineering, then my goal is
complete.Having kids come up to me during research showcase and asking me questions on what I was
doing was really heartwarming. Not many people go into aerospace engineering as there isn't as much of a
demand and there isn't as much money to be had as computer science of petroleum engineering. But
seeing kids who shared the same passion as me for a field as infinite as their dreams was a huge push to
get me to get other kids interested in aerospace engineering and this project is based off of that. I want to
teach others about aerospace engineering and get them passionate as others once did for me. Along with
the education process, I wanted to explore how angle of attacks affected airflow and lift and drag, making
the wind tunnel essentially a glorified prop.

The Process
Going into this project, I had a strict outline on how I wanted to get things done, and for the most part I
followed that outline. The process was to start early and get the first part of the process done. This involved
using an autoCAD software to design airfoils and then wait for them to be 3D printed at the local library. After
that, I had 5 different airfoil shape ready to be tested when the wind tunnel was complete. The next part
involved the designing of the wind tunnel. I had a general idea of what it would look like and how it would
function. I got a lot of the building process from online from others who had also gone through the process of
building their own wind tunnel. I drafted up a quick sketch in my notebook and then went ahead and created
a parts list and waited for the parts to arrive. Ill list the parts in their respective sections. After I got the parts,
I went ahead and started on the long and arduous process of building the wind tunnel. I knew that the main
frame would take a while to build so I started with the experimentation part of the wind tunnel. The initial
challenge was getting a smoke system set up. This took a really long time as the schedule go really busy but
after a while, I got a really good foundation set down and it looked like it would work for the main system.
The main system was the hardest part but the main part was getting a fan in to suckthe air out. The fan was
a super heavy part and it would be hard to support with the easy to bend foam board. The main process was
basically getting airfoils designed and built, and then I designed and built the wind tunnel and then tested the
airfoils inside of the tunnel. The final step was to look at computer simulations and compare and then look at
their graphs and see what they tell about the effectivity of the air foil.

Making the Airfoils

Making the airfoils was probably the easiest part of the entire process as I had done it previously in my
aerospace engineering class. This allowed me to follow the step by step guide and create 5 different airfoils.
The first step was doing some research and deciding what airfoil shapes to use. In the end I went with 0024,
a thin airfoil, 2706, a medium airfoil, 4412, a thick airfoil, and 2 special airfoils Horton and Newman. I also
had an airfoil from last year 2412 and it is the most common airfoil in the world. I used an app called javafoil
to get airfoil data in the form of an excel sheet that I could use to draw out in Inventor, my autoCAD
software.

The program on the left is javafoil and it is

extremely helpful in looking at the shapes of
airfoils and also analyzing the air flow around
them. This is useful when simulating how air flows
in order to compare to actual data. From this I got
the data points to plot in Inventor in order to make
it.

The next step in the process was plotting the points in Inventor, my autoCAD software of choice.

2
The program on the right is called Inventor and is
part of the Autodesk software series. Inventor is an
autoCad software, which basically means 3D
Computer-aided-design. These programs are used
everywhere in engineering for making mockups and
scale design of products. Another popular program
is called Catia and it is used for designing full
airplanes and then testing them in the software.

The screen of the left is the main drawing screen

on Inventor. From here you can sketch the 2-D
component of your design. This screen allows you
to makes lines, circles, and arcs etc. You
command over a powerful processing tool and can
create basically whatever you want, in this case an
airfoil. One of the unique features here is the
precision you can get can be extremely tiny or to
complete scale, whether a bus or a plane.

Now to the actual designing of the airfoil. This is the simplified version, but with this you can create an airfoil
as well.

4
This shows the points all plotted on an graph.
Inventor allows you to import data from an excel file,
which is how we got the data from Javafoil in the first
place. When you import this data, you get whats on
the right. From here all we have to do is use the
spline tool (under line) and connect every single dot.
Yes, all 101 points without messing up or leaving
one behind, or else you have to start over.

This is the final screen for the actual designing of

the airfoil. Once you are done with the above
sketch, you can click finish and then you are taken
to this screen with just a sketch. To get it to look
like this you just click extrude and to 5 inches and
you are done. On this screen you have a lot more
options like creating a screw from 2 faces or
filleting and you can even start a new sketch on
one of the faces to create the object you want.

Now to the actual building of the airfoil. This is the simplified version, but with this you can create an airfoil
as well.

These are all of the air foils in their 3D form.

Their printed form looks exactly like their model form.

NACA 2706

Newman Airfoil

Horten Airfoil

NACA 4412

NACA 0024

Fabrication of the
Airfoils
Actually making the airfoils was even easier since all of the hard work was done. This step was pretty much
just waiting for them to finish. I 3D printed all of my airfoils. If you wish to do the same, save your Inventor
file as a stl file under the save as copy section. Stl files are printable files.

The program on the left allows you to look at your

3D file and how it will be printed. Different printers
will have different softwares but mine was a
Makerbot so I downloaded their program. From
here you load you stl file and then you can scale.

After you have scaled and moved the part around to

see how it would fit, I clicked preview to get a look at
how the file would print and how much it would
weigh so I could get a good estimate on how much it
would cost. From here you just take your makerbot
file on an SD card and print or you save as a stl and
take to get it printed elsewhere as I did. I got mine
done at my local library for about 15 cents a gram.

10

What is a wind tunnel?

A wind tunnel is just a big tube with a fan on one side of it. They are used in almost all areas of automation,
especially with airplanes and cars. NASA has a full sized one where they can test airplanes in. Ferrari has
one to test the aerodynamics of their cars. Most universities with aerospace programs have a variety of wind
tunnels to test projects and explore aerodynamics and forces.

Large Wind Tunnels

Large wind tunnel usually have a giant fan on one end
and several pipes that spit out smoke at high speeds.
This allows them to test large objects in as true of an
environment possible. The one on the right is a closed
wind tunnel where all the wind in the tunnel is
contained in the system. Here the team tests their
formula one cars to see how they work. These are for
testing real life cars and planes.
Ferrari Wind Tunnel Maranello, Italy

Small Wind Tunnels

Smaller wind tunnels are usually for personal or
education purposes. The CTE center in Frisco has
their own wind tunnel. These are generally open wind
tunnels that are used to test scale models or simple
airfoils like in the case of this project. As shown in the
right, the smoke is a lot thinner and evenly spaced out.
MGC Aviation Club's Wind Tunnel

Supersonic Wind Tunnels

Supersonic wind tunnels are just wind tunnels that go faster than the speed of sound where different laws
begin to apply and weird effects start to show up. Most of these are small and are for educational purposes
and to collect data. Some can go upwards of mach 3 and 4.

11

Designing a wind
tunnel
There was a lot of thought and
research that went into this part of the
project and it all culminated into the
single page design on the left. I began
my research into wind tunnels and
how they work to see if I could begin
with little direction. This was fruitless
so I sought ideas from NASA's guide
to building your own tunnel as well as
from other people who like me had
made their own wind tunnels from
scratch. My design is based off of
a Bernoulli principle that states that
fluids will flow with a greater velocity
in areas of smaller cross-sectional
areas. So the mouth of the wind
tunnel gradually caves to the main
section where the air is flowing the
fastest. The fan is placed at the left
end and is meant to suck air out
rather than blow it in. The middle
section is where the airfoil will be
placed and where the actual
visualization will happen. The end of
the wind tunnel just slows the air
down again. In reality this process
happens in reverse since it is flipped
but the same principle occurs. After
the design process I began to build.

12

Fabrication of the
wind tunnel
Deciding to build a wind tunnel was certainly a huge
gamble on my part. I was certainly reaching for
something almost unobtainable yet one of the reasons I
chose to build a wind tunnel was to prove my self
wrong.
Parts:
Foam board(Lots of it)
Duct Tape(I used duct tape everywhere)
90 Degree Brackets(Too hold everything in place)
2 Fans (One large fan and one for the smoke system)
A small acrylic sheet
LED(for the top to illuminate the tunnel)
Pond Oxidizer(to make the smoke)
Straws(to make the air flow smooth)
PVC Pipes
Process:
I started with the smoke system and basically got a
large PVC pipe and place the oxidizer and water in
there and turned the fan on from the top so that it
forces the smoke down. I drilled holes down the side of
the pipe so that the only place the smoke can go is out.
Next I started on the tunnel and I started on the
trapezoidal parts, where I created 8 trapezoids. Then I
created the middle section and spray painted the
inside black so it's easy to see. Then I put the fan on
one end and inserted the smoke on one end and then
placed the straw square on the other end also. This
process took me upwards of 20 hours including the
fine tuning and the moments of frustration where the
part wouldn't work. Overall there are many things I
would change in the process if I could do it over
again.

13

Computer Aided
Visualization of Airflow

Newman 5 Degree Angle of Attack

Newman 25 Degree Angle of Attack

Horten 5 Degree Angle of Attack

Horten 25 Degree Angle of Attack

14

NACA 2706 5 Degree Angle of Attack

NACA 2706 25 Degree Angle of Attack

NACA 4412 5 Degree Angle of Attack

NACA 4412 25 Degree Angle of Attack

NACA 4412 5 Degree Angle of Attack

Velocity Distribution

NACA 4412 25 Degree Angle of Attack

Velocity Distribution

15

Analysis of Computer visualazation

NACA 4412 5 Degree Angle of Attack

Velocity Distribution

NACA 4412 25 Degree Angle of Attack

Velocity Distribution

Looking at every single airfoil's 5 degree and 25 degree flow field, almost all of them behaved similarly. It
is pretty hard to tell from the pictures alone how they are different but the differences between the 5
degree and 25 degree flow field is obvious. The 5 degree field for all of them is really even and smooth. All
of the air lines seem to hug the airfoil and nicely meet and straighten out in the end. The 25 degree on the
other hand is very different. The lines on the top get closer and closer indicating a more dense air flow and
higher speed. This is more evident in the flow field that is on the right as it shows a color map of the
velocity with a darker color indicating a faster velocity. The lower lines are much more spread apart and
bed towards the airfoil. This indicates a slower flow and less dense. Looking back at the velocity graphs, it
is clear to see the Bernoulli theory begin to show. There is higher velocity on the top and lower velocity on
the bottom leading to a pressure difference. However studies indicated that this might not be the case.
Since the flow fields don't reveal too much data, I decided to go ahead and look graphs in order to find a
difference. I decided to use and compare Javafoil and my personal graphs to get a good look at if there is
any difference between the 2.

16

Analyzing Graphs of Cl/Cd

When simulating airfoil data, we can plug in variables to get an estimate of the lift and drag at different
angles of attack. The coefficient of lift of (Cl) is calculated by incorporating the density of the fluid, the
speed of the fluid, as well as the lift and area.
Cl = L / (A * .5 * r * V^2)
Drag is similarly calculated. By comparing the 2 numbers, we can get a good estimate of how the airfoil
performs at different angle of attacks.

This a Cl/Cd graph for the NACA airfoil 2412 (the most common airfoil). This graph is split into 5 different
lines which are differentiated by Reynolds numbers. The Reynolds number describes the momentum forces
to viscous forces so that other flows can be predicted. Low Reynolds numbers indicate smooth flow while
high numbers indicate turbulent flow. Low Reynolds numbers usually fall between 40,000 and 500,000.
From this graph we can see that the airfoil hits a max lift of about 1.4 at a drag of about .03. We can tell
much about this besides how drag is related to lift and the obvious fact that lift decreases as drag increases.
The next couple of pages breaks down and compares 4 graphs to one another for each airfoil.

17

NACA 2412

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a

different aspect of the airfoil NACA 0024.
Top Left: This is the same graph as the previous page
and it basically outlines the ratio of lift to drag.
Top Right: This graph outlines the coefficient of lift
versus the angle of attack (alpha)
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing
coefficient of lift versus air speed versus angle of
attack. Looking at this graph, the greatest lift occurs at
10 degrees. Looking back to the graph on the top right,
you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its max
around 10 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to
the coefficient of lift.
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a
3D graph similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it
graphs the drag on the y-axis. From this you can see
how at higher angles and higher speeds, the airfoil has
a much greater drag. This indicated that the airfoil has
reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than the
lift at this point.

18

NACA 0024

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a different aspect

of the airfoil NACA 0024.
Top Left: The Cl/Cd graph for this airfoil is very different from the
one for 2412. This one has a smooth curve where the curve
increases smoothly for a while the other one had a distinct sharp
drop. This graph also shows how there is a really constant low
drag compared to the previous airfoil where after a certain point
there was high drag.
Top Right: Like the Cl/Cd graph, this graph is really smooth and
doesn't have a sharp drop point like the other airfoil. This
indicated that the airfoil stall is much smoother than the other
airfoil. This is due to the high camber of the airfoil.
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing coefficient of lift
versus air speed versus angle of attack. Looking at this graph, the
greatest lift occurs at 30 degrees. Looking back to the graph on
the top right, you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its
max around 30 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to the
coefficient of lift.
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a 3D graph
similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it graphs the drag on
the y-axis. From this you can see how at higher angles and higher
speeds, the airfoil has a much greater drag. This indicated that
the airfoil has reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than
the lift at this point. This is exactly like the previous airfoil.

19

NACA 2706

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a different aspect

of the airfoil NACA 2706.
Top Left: This graph looks much nastier than the previous 2 and
has a low max Cl and a high max Cd making this a less desirable
airfoil than the other 2. There is rather abrupt points where the lift
falls and the drag falls and these are places of turbulence.
Top Right: This graph is also not as nice as the other 2 but shows
how all 5 of the Reynolds numbers act pretty much in a similar
behavior. This graph does show us that there is a brief period of
high lift and this lift is still comparatively small to the other 2
airfoils.
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing coefficient of lift
versus air speed versus angle of attack. Looking at this graph, the
greatest lift occurs at 10 degrees. Looking back to the graph on
the top right, you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its
max around 10 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to the
coefficient of lift. This graph also shows how the lift decreases
rather suddenly at 20 degrees.
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a 3D graph
similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it graphs the drag on
the y-axis. From this you can see how at higher angles and higher
speeds, the airfoil has a much greater drag. This indicated that
the airfoil has reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than
the lift at this point. This result is going to be the exact same for all
of the graphs except the drag does increase over a longer area.

20

NACA 4412

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a different aspect

of the airfoil NACA 4412.
Top Left This graph shows a gradual decrease of lift. The
decrease is sort of abrupt but it is kind of a curve when Compared
to others
Top Right: It is interesting to see here how for the most part all of
the curves are similar for the different Reynolds numbers except
for a brief period after 10 degrees where they all differ. This could
suggest that the airfoil performs better under rougher conditions.
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing coefficient of lift
versus air speed versus angle of attack. Looking at this graph, the
greatest lift occurs at 10 degrees. Looking back to the graph on
the top right, you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its
max around 10 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to the
coefficient of lift. This one is a nice smooth mountain peak that
has a pretty even slope in all directions.
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a 3D graph
similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it graphs the drag on the
y-axis. From this you can see how at higher angles and higher
speeds, the airfoil has a much greater drag. This indicated that
the airfoil has reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than
the lift at this point. This one again is just like the other airfoils.

21

Newman

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a different aspect

of the airfoil.
Top Left This graph is really clean and nice. It has a relatively
high lift to drag ratio and continues to maintain a high lift through
higher angles of attack.
Top Right: This graph is also nice and curved. There seems to be
a max lift at about 20 degrees. From there it is a pretty even
decrease in lift compared to other more abrupt decreases.
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing coefficient of lift
versus air speed versus angle of attack. Looking at this graph, the
greatest lift occurs at 20 degrees. Looking back to the graph on
the top right, you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its
max around 20 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to the
coefficient of lift. This graph also shows how there is only a small
decrease in lift in large change in angle of attack.
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a 3D graph
similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it graphs the drag on
the y-axis. From this you can see how at higher angles and higher
speeds, the airfoil has a much greater drag. This indicated that
the airfoil has reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than
the lift at this point. This is again similar to the other airfoils.

22

Horten

There are 4 graphs on this page. Each outlining a different aspect

of the airfoil.
Top Left: To me, this is the most interesting and unique Cl/Cd
graph. This graph shows an arc like pattern for the ratio and the
Reynolds number lines switch their positions where initially the
green (lowest Reynolds number) is the 5th line, but then
eventually it becomes the 1st line after all of them converge at
one point.
Top Right: This is also a unique graph as over the 30 degree
change, the graph almost manages to complete the parabola
indicating that there is a small window of high lift. It is also
interesting that the graph is somewhat symmetrical as the airfoil is
symmetrical.
Left: The graph on the left is a 3D graph showing coefficient of lift
versus air speed versus angle of attack. Looking at this graph, the
greatest lift occurs at 10 degrees. Looking back to the graph on
the top right, you can also see that the coefficient of lift is at its
max around 10 degrees. This indicates lift is proportional to the
coefficient of lift. There is a slow increase in lift from 10 to 20
degrees,
Bottom Left: The graph on the bottom lift just shows a 3D graph
similar to the predicted lift graphs, except it graphs the drag on
the y-axis. From this you can see how at higher angles and higher
speeds, the airfoil has a much greater drag. This indicated that
the airfoil has reached its stall angle and the drag is higher than
the lift at this point. This one is again to similar too all of the other
airfoils.

23

Wind Tunnel Testing

I only managed to get one proper picture of the airflow and even that isn't so great. But looking closely at
the top of the airfoil, you can see a very thin and transparent stream of smoke that is hugging the airfoil.
This is the NACA 0024 airfoil at an approximate 25 degree angle. Like the visualization above, the
airflow above it moves by hugging the top. Overall I wasn't able to get pictures of every airfoil since the
camera wasn't able to get the streamlines around the airfoil. Since this was the only picture I was able to
take, I won't be able to compare both the wind tunnel and simulation data properly. From what I was able
to visually see, most of the airfoils followed the same path as the airfoil above.
Looking ahead to how I would change my process for the future and the design for the future, I would
change the way the smoke exited the system and how it entered the wind tunnel. Somewhere in the
process, there was a loss of airflow and the smoke was dissipated to the point where it was hard to see
the air flow. I would also have a better lighting system as I had to keep adjusting the flash light so that I
could faintly see the flow of air. I would also make the structure a lot sturdier so that it can hold the
weight of the fan. In the future, there is a lot I would like to change. I feel like this is for the better as with
these improvements it would be easier to see the flow of air. These are also relatively simple
adjustments.

24

Conclusion
From start to finish this project was crazy. I never fully expected to go through with this, and I started with a
vague idea and ended up with a fairly polished product. Looking back at the data and what I was able to
look at and compare, I noticed that the air flow acted really similar to the computer data at lower angles of
attack. At higher angles of attack, the air wasnt going fast enough to actually see and compare to it. There
were points of high air flow where you could see the air flow nicely over the airfoil but overall it was still hard
to see the wind flow. The main takeaway from this data is looking at how a wind tunnel works and functions
and how airfoils react to the air flow. Most of what I started with was what I had taken from my previous
experiences in engineering. The most helpful resource I had in this project was last years resources from
the aerospace engineering class. In this class I had the chance to 3D print airfoils in class, a project which I
was able to replicate this year.
Looking at the simulation data, most airfoils affect the air around them in similar ways when you just look at
the flow of air. But when you look at how the airfoil reacts to the flow of air, you get very different results. It is
interesting to see how symmetrical airfoils had a greater left to drag ratio but had zero lift at a 0 angle of
attack, Cambered airfoils on the other hand had lower ratios but had some lift at a 0 angle of attack. Looking
at the computer generated graphs, it is clear how different airfoils can serve different purposes and how
different shapes effected the overall airflow. Using this data, you could customize an airfoil to your own
preference by predicting the results and working backwards from there. I learnt a great deal about how
airfoils work and I feel like I have a better understanding of aerospace fundamentals and I am better
prepared for a future in this career.
The application of such a device as a wind tunnel are endless. Even without the wind tunnel part, being able
to show the flow of air around objects by creating a smoke stream and having the object in the middle of the
stream to see how the air flows around it. Showing people the final product is educational but building a
tunnel yourself and looking at it for yourself is even more beneficial as you learn to understand what each of
the parts do. Every School can afford to make a small homemade wind tunnel for basic demonstrations and
schools can better teach many physics topics while making it interesting and engaging. With the research I
have done here, I have made aerospace engineering more accessible to others while helping me
understand some of the terms and principles of the field.

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