Facilities and Specifications :

GLM Wind Tunnel

• Test Section: 7.75' High, 11.04' Wide with corner fillets. Test section area is 85.04 sq. ft.
• Speed Range: 2 m.p.h. to 230 m.p.h (Mach Number 0 to 0.3)
• Turbulence: Sphere test turbulence factor is 1.05. Hot wire measured intensity is 0.21%.
• External Balance: Six component yoke type balance. Normal mounting of test articles is from below floor. Balance extension allows mounting of test articles from above the test section roof. This also allows "2D" airfoil tests with the test wing extending from floor to ceiling with attachments to the balance at both the top and bottom.
• Model Control: Multi-axis control under manual remote or computer program command
• Test Section Insert: Horizontal endplate type to perform two-dimensional flow studies within the main tunnel. Use of balance extension described above is the preferred method of doing a 2D test.
• Floor Boundary Layer Control System: Ground floor Boundary Layer (GFBL) Suction system provides floor boundary layer with displacement thickness of ~1/8" at center of test section for automotive and other test applications.

Support Facilities

• Shop: Complete model shop for fabrication of models and fixtures, including CNC machining and stereolithography rapid prototyping
• In-House Design Capability: Mechanical and structural design using IDEAS drafting and solid-modeling programs for models and fixtures
• Data Acquisition System: Hewlett Packard 743 VXI bus workstation. User customized data acquisition system designs and sophisticated graphical user interfaces can be easily created using icon-driven software VEETEST.
• Post-Processing: MATLAB based post-processing software allows on-line corrected data to be displayed on customer's CRT in tabular and graphical format immediately following completion of each data run.
• Flow Visualization: Smoke systems, fluorescent oil, tufts, and computer based presentation
• Flow Field Surveys: Extensive capabilities for measuring, computing, and displaying flow field properties such as velocity components, vorticity, and other derived variables, using a variety of probes such as 7-hole, and hot wire, including a wake survey rig with six 7-hole probes.
• Pressure Measurements: PSI pressure transducers provides up to 144 static pressure measurements. Unsteady pressure measurements using high speed pressure transducers.
• Hot Wire Measurements: TSI hot wire data acquisition system
• Test Section Video System:
  • SVHS/VHS video (4 color cameras, 3 black & white, VHS and direct DVD recording)
  • QuickTime movies from video using recordable CD-ROM
  • Frame grabber hardware for video capturing from video camera or tape
  • 35 mm cameras (3 cameras with data backs and radio activated remotely controlled shutters)
  • Digital cameras for most still applications
• Computer Network: Hewlett -Packard and PC workstations, on ethernet LAN. Local intranet provides data services within the GLMWT and limits accessability while access to the University of Maryland campus network allows access to the external world as needed.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Capability

• Pre-processing using paneling and gridding codes such as I3G and GRIDGEN
• Potential Flow/Boundary Layer codes such as PMARC and CMARC
• Commercial CFD codes such as StarCD and its successors

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