UPCOMING EVENTS

We have some fun things coming up.  Maybe you can squeeze 
them into your lesson planner!

Chat with Mina Cappuccio who is planning a test on the propulsion
airframe integration for the high speed civil transport- the 
airliner of the future!
January 26, 1998 from 12 - 1 PM Pacific time.
Read her bio at 
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/cappuccio.html


To attend chats you register by filling out a form 
online to ensure a reservation.  (So far there's been 
plenty of room in our chats!) To register go to 

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting

On Thursday, January 29, 1998 10 - 11:30 PM Pacific
a live lecture and Web chat with the "Aerodynamics 
in Sports Technology" Project Research Team

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/cislunar/

On Thursday, February 5, 1998 at 9-10:30 AM Pacific
We are planning a live event with Brent Wellman. There 
will be real media (streaming video and audio) over the 
Internet and Brent will demonstrate some discrepant events
about generating lift with odd shaped airfoils.  These
tricks can be easily duplicated in your classroom!This 
broadcast will last 45 minutes and be followed by a Web 
chat.  Check Special Events early next week for a link 
to information about attending this one time live event.

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/events

Has your class been doing some airplane drawings or flying 
paper planes lately? Send us photos, jpegs or gifs.  We 
can post them on the Aerospace Team Web site in the Kids' 
Corner under the Student Gallery.  Rumor has it that kids 
like to see their work on the web. 

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/kids/

A DAY IN THE WIND TUNNELS

Robyn Gottheiner

January 23, 1998

As a senior at Palo Alto High School, I had the option of taking a class called Science Research. This class places students with a mentor who works in a field that interests the student. I chose to study at NASA with Susan Lee who works on the Aerospace Team Online Web Site.

One opportunity Susan provided me with was to visit with Mina Cappuccio. Mina deals with models of high speed planes, and she tests them in the wind tunnels.

My visit with Mina turned into an amazing educational experience. Not only did I learn about such terms as Reynolds Number and what functions each Wind Tunnel specializes in, but I got the chance to see two of the many wind tunnels at Ames!

The wind tunnels at NASA have always intrigued me. As a child I would always stare at the huge building with amazement as I passed by on Highway 101. I would fantasize about what went on inside these wind tunnels. I pictured researchers in big space suits calculating information as they watched some mind-blowing spectacle.

Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn't too far off (except for the space suits!). As we entered the 11 by 11 foot Transonic Wind Tunnel, Mina unlocked the safety door that leads to the main floor. (Transonic means that the air inside the tunnel can travel at speeds that range from high subsonic to low supersonic speeds.) The huge room had a large cylinder-shaped object that stretched the whole length of the room. Mina explained that the tunnel went in a circular shape, and that we were only looking at a small portion of the Wind Tunnel. I didn't understand why this huge facility was called "11 by 11 foot". But quickly, it was brought to my attention that this dimension referred to the height and width of the tunnel where the model is placed (this piece of the tunnel is called the "test section"). So, basically, the model of the airplane that they are testing has to fit in an 11 by 11 foot area.

The reason they chose this dimension for this Transonic Wind Tunnel is so the researchers can study the model at Mach numbers between 0.4 -1.5, at a Reynolds Number of 1.26 -9.4 x 10⁶ per foot. I learned that each Wind Tunnel specializes in different Mach and Reynolds Number ranges, densities, pressures, forces, and many other conditions. So, the model is placed in a sturdy holder that is downstream from the model (this is so the holder doesn't interfere with the airflow around the model). The standing air is pushed through the circuit using a very large compressor with the model in the test section of the circuit.

The researchers sit in a room near by, where they watch the model on many video screens and calculate really important information for improving the plane (or whatever the company is building). It is necessary for the technicians and researchers to be in a separate room because of safety precautions. If there was a crack or mishap in the tunnel, people could potentially be sucked into the Wind Tunnel. This is why these tests in the Wind Tunnel tend to be limited to people involved in each experiment.

After seeing the 11 by 11 foot Transonic Wind Tunnel, Mina took me to see the 9 by 7 foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel (Supersonic means that the air travels at speeds faster than sound). The area the model sits in this tunnel is obviously much smaller than the previous tunnel. This Wind Tunnel also deals with higher Mach Numbers, lower Reynolds Numbers, a different range of pressures, and many other conditions. Mina explained that this, as well as other Wind Tunnels in the NASA facility, were temporarily out of use because they were being equipped with high tech computers for data, and the actual tunnels were being repaired too. She said that they were originally built in the 1950's and that NASA hoped to reopen these Wind Tunnels for tests within the next few years.

Because the Wind Tunnels are being repaired, this means that Mina and other researchers have to travel to other places to test in Wind Tunnels. I was surprised to learn that there are tons of other Wind Tunnels all throughout the country. But, the biggest in the world is right at NASA Ames in Mountain View!

Even though I didn't visit the biggest Wind Tunnel, I still feel privileged to have had the opportunity of seeing two smaller tunnels. I learned a huge amount about the purpose of Wind Tunnels and how they help technology. I hope that I have been able to relay some of the exciting and educational information that I encountered in this adventure.

As I continue to work with NASA until the end of the school year, I am learning one really big lesson. The basics that students are taught in school, like Physics and Math, are the keys to all the interesting technological work at NASA and all over the world. I have been able to value what I learn in school, because I know almost all the theories and calculations will be applied in whatever I do later in life.

ONE WEEK TO GO! - FLOW VISUALIZATION

By Fanny Zuniga

January 14, 1998 

This week the test team and I are busy trying to 
solve a new mystery. The balance has been 
calibrated and it looks good. But when we plugged 
the balance into our computer we didn't get a
very good signal. There are some electrical
components between the balance and the computer 
(like amplifiers and signal conditioners) and 
we don't know where the problem is yet. The
big worry is that we can't do a final check 
of the balance with our computer until
we've solved this problem. Some of our team 
members from Boeing are showing up here this week, 
so with the extra help we should still be able
to start our test on time. We are supposed to 
start putting our model in the tunnel on 
January 20. At that point the model, balance, 
instrumentation, and software have to be ready. 

On another front, the software group chose this 
week to make a major upgrade to the wind tunnel
software. This means the people who were
working on my test's particular software are 
busy. Some of the calculations I want in our 
software may not be available until after our 
test starts. Also, we found those accelerometers 
I mentioned before, but now we can't find the
cables and power supplies. If it isn't one thing, 
it's another. 

Lastly, we are also refining our plans and 
preparations for using those techniques I 
mentioned before which help us understand how 
the air flows around the model. You may recall 
I mentioned one way we were going to do this is 
with colored oil that flows on our wings while 
the tunnel runs. The problem with oil is that 
we can only get a picture of the airflow for a
few conditions because it takes so much effort 
and time. The other methods of "flow visualization" 
we will use are tuft photos and Pressure Sensitive
Paint, so I want to describe them for you. This 
week we decided when in the test we would use 
these different methods. 

The first method is to put really fine threads, 
or tufts, all over the model. These tufts are so 
fine that they don't change the airflow on the 
model, but they do show which way the air is 
going. We take a picture in Ultraviolet light
(UV, or Black Light) because the tufts are florescent. 
We have to use high powered UV strobe lights so 
that we can "freeze" the tufts because they tend
to wiggle a bit (the airflow in our tunnel is 
not perfectly steady) and we don't want a blurry 
image. So all we have to do is mount special
UV strobe lights above a clear window in the 
top of the test section and take pictures.
What's neat about this is we don't have to stop 
the tunnel and reapply oil for each condition we 
want to study, if the airflow changes at a new model 
attitude or tunnel speed, we just take another 
picture. It takes time to stick the tufts on the
model and install the cameras, but after that we 
can get a lot of information without slowing down 
our test too much. 

The other method we plan to use is to paint the 
model with Pressure Sensitive Paint, or PSP. This 
is a neat method of recording pressures on the surface
of the wings. Basically, we use a special paint 
that glows in UV light. How bright it glows 
depends on the air pressure. We take video 
images of the painted model using UV lights 
in the top of the test section, and then
process the images with a computer. PSP is a 
lot like using the tufts, it takes time to
paint the model and install the cameras, but after 
that we don't have to stop the tunnel and repaint
it for each condition like we do with the oil. After it
is applied, the paint for PSP only lasts for a few 
weeks before it ages and quits working. 

We are using one more method to understand the 
aerodynamics of our model. You see, one problem 
we have is that the wings bend, or deform, slightly
under high lift loads. What this means is that 
the shape of our model will actually change 
slightly with different loads and conditions. 
This means it is hard to compare Lift and Drag 
from one condition to another because the
model itself has changed. We use a neat video 
system, mounted in a side window of the tunnel, 
which records images of some reflective spots 
on the wing tip and then computes how much the 
wing is bending and twisting. 

So, the big decision we had to make this week 
was when we would conduct the oil flow study, 
and when we would paint the model for PSP. 
Yes, we are still refining our run schedule! 
We decided to put both of these activities near
the end of the test. Basically, we want to put 
things that are either risky or time consuming 
near the back of the test so that we can assure 
we collect our most important data (like Lift 
and Drag force measurements) first. As I
mentioned, the oil flow photos are time 
consuming. As for PSP, since the paint doesn't 
last very long we have to paint inside the 
tunnel in the middle of our test. The tradeoff 
here is that after we paint the model we have to
change the model back to some configurations 
we will have already tested. If we painted the
model during the first week, say, then we could 
get PSP information anytime during the test until 
the paint got old. Then we'd have to repaint 
it which takes more time. 

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