Authors:

Aimee Wucherer

Date Created:

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About Paper:

The study of particles, droplets, or flying vehicles and their interaction with turbulence is difficult in wind tunnels due to their tendency to be advected away from the test section. A solution to this issue is to study the effects of turbulence on objects in a turbulence box, which generates a volume of turbulence without a mean flow direction [1]. Previous air turbulence boxes have been characterized by 2D measurements [2], but a turbulence box designed to utilize state-of-the-art advancements in 3D characterization has not been realized yet [3]. The purpose of this project is to design, build, and test a turbulence box specifically with 3D measurements that will enhance the current state of turbulence interaction studies. This box has an octagonal geometry, with four inward-facing walls of air jets, over six feet tall, separated by four acrylic walls for optical observation and 3D particle tracking. So far, individual components have been successfully tested in a benchtop setup driven by Python. Forcing schemes for the jets were intended to be run to produce low mean turbulence over a large envelope. Results indicate that 24 Volts and 10 Amps will need to be independently supplied to each wall of jets and that potential back electromotive force caused by 96 solenoid jets per wall is not a concern. Benchtop testing of an array of 36 jets was conducted to rule out connection point leakages to explain large reduction in pressure upon jet activation. Additional testing at higher pressures to cause air leaving the jets to approach Mach 1 is needed. The insights that will follow demystifying the impact of turbulence on particles set up more research on other entities, including drone stabilizer responses in sudden gusts to the interaction of small flying insects with turbulence.

Source:

Illinois Institute of Technology

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Co-authors:

Aimee Wucherer