Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello again,

I have a question on the wind-speed meter (the personal fan) used in the wind tunnel. How through the information that it gathers does it tell you what the speed is? Do you have to plug the data from it in a equation or what to get it into a common form (like Miles-Per-Hour)?

Hi Shaddow,

Yes, you'll have to find a way to convert the voltage output reading from the personal fan anemometer into airspeed. There are many creative ways of doing this, and it takes a little scientific thought. Do you have any ideas of how to do it? You mentioned an equation, but the relationship between wind speed and voltage is going to be defined by your specific tunnel setup, so you will most likely need to create a function of conversion yourself by taking multiple data points at multiple different known airspeeds (perhaps using another anemometer, to match the voltage reading with the second one's airspeed reading).

Does that make sense?

I dont know how to pose questions ,who can I talk to and how can I proceed ?

Since my questions are varied , but one has to do with creating energy with a device that creates air flow it might help with wind tunnel and also many others as I am certain it can and will produce energy

Hello,

To find the right place to post your questions, first go to the board index (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... /index.php), then select your grade level, then the scientific field to which your question applies.

Your device that makes energy using air flow would best be asked in the Physical Sciences section of your grade level. The one you are on at the moment is specifically for questions regarding the wind tunnel presented on Sciencebuddies.org.

Good luck with all your questions!

Hi. I am building a wind tunnel to test models of cars I will make. It is important that the values I get from testing the cars can be scaled up to compare it to that of full sized cars. How do I get the same Re, scaled lift, and scaled drag from a 1/24 scale model car compared to that of the real thing? (the car will be 3in wide out of 6ft of an average car). thank you.

Hi,
A quick question: Approximately how long does it take to build this wind tunnel? Is it plausible to complete it in a 1-month time frame? I am testing various drag reduction techniques but I would hope that the bulk of the experiment would be actual airfoil testing and not building the wind tunnel.
Thanks for your time!

Hello, I was thinking of putting a barometer in my wind tunnel to measure air pressure. I would like to hear your opinion on measuring air pressure, and what kind of barometer you would use and how and where you would put it in the tunnel. Thanks!

Hi,
I wanted to ask about wind tunnel force sensor setup. As i can see in this link https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... -toc.shtml
The sensor are connected simply to two screw rods perpendicularly each other(one for drag one for lift).I think the rods are welded to each other other. Is that all ? I have got some force sensors capable to measure upto 10 N, so can we simple make a setup like you and can measure drag and accurately. Also is there any data available for drag and lift for airfoil, ?
Many thanks