KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND PRODUCTION
ENGINEERING
COURSE: MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING
ENGINEERING
COURSE UNIT: TMME 2206 FLUID MECHANICS
TECHNICIAN: MR ONGORA

NAME: WANYENYA WINNIE

REG NO: 19/U/EME/1149/PE

A REPORT ABOUT AN EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE

VELOCITY PROFILE OF AIR THROUGH AN AIR FLOW
TUNNEL.
AN EXPERIMENT DETERMINING THE VELOCITY PROFILE OF AIR THROUGH AN AIR FLOW TUNNEL

OBJECTIVE

To find the experimental value of the velocity of air

TOOLS AND EQUPMENT USED DURING THE EXPERIMENT

 Air flow rig

 Red paraffin
 Air
 manometers

PRECAUTIONS

 Wearing of proper safety gears e.g. Overcoat, Safety shoes, etc.

 One should ensure to know where the on and off buttons of the machine are before using the
machine.
 The air suction should not be interrupted.
 Proper ventilation should be ensured for proper air supply and also to avoid suffocation.
 One should make sure there is proper lighting in the room for proper readings.
 The paraffin should be level to be the same.
 While taking results, one should read accurately without parallax.

BRIEF THEORY

The air flow rig operates on a principle of Bernoulli`s principle. The liquid rises up in the tube due to the
conversion of kinetic energy into pressure energy.

Considering two points 1 and 2 at the same level in such a way that point 2 is just as the inlet of the pitot
tube and point 1 is far away from the tube. Applying Bernoulli`s equation at point 1 and 2
But h1=h2 as points 1 and 2 are on the same level

V2=0

p1/ϱg= pressure head at 1=H

P2/ϱg= pressure head at 2 = H+h

Thus simplifying the equation further gives v 1=√(2 gh)

PROCEDURE

o The reservoir of the manometers was filled with red paraffin and it was ensured that it is on the
same level within the manometers.
o The initial value of the liquid in the manometers was read off as (h 0) in mm.
o The machine was then switched on.
o The reading of the liquid in the manometer while the nozzle is at 0 was taken and noted as h f.
This is done at the test section.
o The nozzle position was adjusted to 10,20,30 and 40 while reading the corresponding values of
the liquid level in the manometer to obtain results.
o The results were tabulated while obtaining values of h and v where h= h f-h0 and v=√2gh, g is the
acceleration due to gravity.

Nozzle Nozzle h0mm) hf (mm) h(mm) h(m) V(m/s2)

reading(mm) reading(m)
0 0.0 126 130 4 0.004 0.2801
10 0.01 126 132 6 0.006 0.3431
20 0.02 126 132 6 0.006 0.3431
30 0.03 126 134 8 0.008 0.3962
40 0.04 126 138 12 0.012 0.4852

o Graphs of; a) h against nozzle values,

b) v against nozzle values

 c) h against v were plotted

A graph of h against n
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
0.014 0.6 A graph of v against n
The velocity
A graph of v against
0.012of0.5
air is directly proportional to the square root of the static head h, this therefore
0.6
n leads to an increase in the velocity of the air.
means that increase in the static head
0.01 0.4
0.5
Fluid flows faster in the center of the pipes than the positions that are near the walls. This is caused by
0.008
adhesion force. 0.3 0.4
0.006 0.2
The static head is also directly proportional to the nozzle positions, n. this therefore means that an
0.004 0.3
increase in the distance
0.1 of nozzle position leads to an increase in the static head.
0.002
0.2
0 has a positive relationship with the nozzle positions. Therefore, an increase in the
The velocity of air also 0
0
nozzle positions increases the velocity of air.
0 0.1 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045

0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04

CONCLUSION

The velocity of a fluid has a positive relationship with the pressure head, increase in one leads
to increase in the other while decrease in one also decreases the other. The experimental and
numerical results are plotted and compared for five different

Nozzle values, i.e. 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 (mm). The velocity profile along the Y-

axis is calculated from the experimental data and observed. The findings obtained

from the experiments performed at the air flow tunnel and those from

numerical simulations show admirable convergence, as far as the experimental and

numerical velocity are concerned.