Source of Acquisition

NASA Washington, D. C.

TECHNICAL MEUORANDUliS
HAllONAL ADVl SOrtY OO:I1i.,IITTEE FOR ]I.EROKAUTlOS

No . 651

OF TgE BUCHAREST

POLY~ECH~lC

Was:li ng ton

Dece r:lb er , 1931

l~STITUTE

I~ATI O NAL

ADYISORY COMMIT'.VEE FOR AliJR O:i.ITAUTICS

TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NO. 65 1

WINJ) TUFNEL OF THE J3UCnAJ{EST POLYTECHNI C IHST ITUTE*
The new wi nd tunne l of t h e Bu c harest Po l ytechnic I nsti tute , d esi g ne d by Mes s rs. C ~ r & fo l i and stroesco , is of t he
c l o sed - c ircu i t t yp e , the retllrn being symr.1G tric c:,l with respect t o the lon g i tud i n a l axis of the tunn el .
Th e tun ~ el
is of t i.l e horizontal tY'p e (fi g s . 1 , 2 , 3 c.. nd 4) , with a
d i ame t e r of 3 . 2 m (10 . 5-ft.) a t the b e g i nn i ng o f t ~e ent r an c e c 0 ::'1 e ( 3 ) , an d 1 . 5 m ( 4 92 ft .) at t h e en t r an c e t 0
t ~1 e t es t C 11. amb e r (4 ).
Th e I at t e r , 2 m ( 6 56 ft . ) Ion g ,
may be eith e r of t h e op en - jet type (shown in p icture) or
enclo s ed in a c y l indrical housin g as shown by the dotte d
1 ine s i n ?i g ure I cm d in secti on in Figure 3 .
The tunnel section is c i rcular from the en tr a nce cone
to t~e p ro p eller an d annular in the return passage .
A
honeyc o mb is mount e d in the beg i nni ng of th e en tr ance c o ne .
The c ross sectio n of t~le exit cone ( 5 ), wrlic:C is circ'.ll L'. r
t hr oughou t its len g th , increases f ro m 1 . 5 n ( 4 . 92 ft . ) to
2 . 5 ill ( 8 . 2 ft . ) at the p ro p eller .
At t h is po int t~e sec tion bec o me s annular and the circuit n ako s a be nd of 1 80 ,
the return bein g pe r fe ctly sym8 etric a l wit h respect to the
tun n el axis .
Honeycombs a re installed in the annulus (7
and 8) to keep the current par al lel.
The cr o ss section o f
th e annu lar retur n p a ssaGe increases g ra dua lly f ro m t~e
be~d t o the entrance co ne .
The variati on in areas is
shown i n Fi g ure 5 .
T~8 tu nn el is h oused in a bu il ding wn lcn has , e x tern a ll y , t h e uhap e of all octa.g on a l p rism .
(})' i r; s . 6 , 7 and
8.)
I n si d e there is a c y lin d er of 5 . 72 m (1 8 . 77 ft . ) ma x imum (liamster .
The return circuit is 10c8.te d between t J.-,j. s
c y lin d er a nd the outsi d e wa lls of the t unn el .

Access to the test cil amber (1 3 ) is had thro ugh tl e r e turn passag e, in t he form of a st re a~ li ned p assag e .
(1i R s .
9 and 10 . )
In order to p revent t h is obst ac le from disturb i ng the retu r n f low , the tunnel section was wi d e ned at tbis
p oi nt .
Henc e , the section of t h e re turn p assa g e g_adually
i ncreases t oward the entrance c o n G, although its symmetry
i s disturb e d by t~1.e test c h a n,tJe r .
*Data received f ro m Paris Offi ce.

N. A. e . A.

Te c~n ica l

Memorandum No .

651

The fact t ha t an obstac l e , a l thou gh str e am li ned , is

p l aced in the retur n fl ow, 'f ou l d or rlinarily le ad t o sepa r at ion of t h e flow behind the obst ac l e , which , in the pre~
ent c as e , i s of symmet ri c a l biconvex section.
This di ff icul ty is obv i ated by suckin g o f f t~c f lo w beh in d the ob st ac le .
(F i g . 4 .)
The me th o d by which this resu l t is achieved is one of
th e outstand i n g features of the tu~ne l.
It g re a t l y re duces tho turbu l ence and increase s the eff i ciency of t he
t unne l .
The su c ti o n is p r odu c ed aut o maticall y by connect i ng t he b urb l in g area with t h e l ow- pressure region at t~e
po in t of max i mum a ir- f lo w voloc i ty in tho entrance cone .
Tnc c onnection is est a blished by an annul a r metal collec t or (1 6 ) a round the junction with the ex i t cone a nd a sys tem of p ip e s ( 1 8) which lead through the test chamber to
slots in t~e re'r of t h e b i convex o b stacl e ( 20 ).
In ad dition to the a bove - ment i oned adv an t age s , t h is
s ystem a ls o i mp ro ves the flow i n t: l e test chambe r , inc-s LlUC r. as t21 e p ower f u l
jet of air which ente rs the circa12.r
o peni~G ( 1 5 ) carries off t h e air laye r in the imme d i ato
n e i gn~ orhood of the wall (boun dary l ayer) .
This ~es~~ts
i n un i l orm vel o c i ty a l on g the diameter of t~e teR~ c~am
ber and thr oughou t its l ength .
Po wer is s up~9 1i ed by an electric mot or (9) ( f i g . 1)
d evelop ing 50 hp at 14 60 r . l) . m.
Tile ;J ro pe1 l o r ( 6 ) is
mounted d irectly on the motor sh Bf t, t~e who l e be i ng c ar ried by a can ti l ever metal framew o rk (1 7) su~p or ted by a
concrete structure which is entir el y in d e p en d ent o f the
body of tile tunne 1 (12) .
A speed of 41 . 7 m/s ( 1 36 . 8 ft . /s ec.) has be en re a c hed
with only 32 hp , which corresp on d s to t he e xt re hl ely good
eff i ci ency fa cto r
P = 3 . 35 . At s pee ds of less than 30
m/s ( 98 . 4 ft . /sec . ) , the tunne l has p r o ved very s a ti s f act o ry as to uni f ormit y of fl ow in the test c hambe r.
Prel Lli nary tests at h i ghe r v e locities a re b ein G made .
The b a l anc e now in us e is of t he standard wire typ o .
Th e tunne l p r ope r is built of wo od and p l ywood , covered with waterproof tabric .
Trans lation by W. L. K op orind~ ,
Nationa l Advisory Co mu i tte e
for Aeron au tics .

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-N.A.C.A. Technical Memorandum No. 651

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N.A.C.A. Technical Memorandum No. 651

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Outside view of tunnel (Exit cone end and motor cabin)

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N.A.C.A. Technical Memorandum No. 651

Fig. 10 Test charaber. Open jet arrangement. Mo

Figs. 9,10