Design of open jet supersonic wind tunnel

Abstract

The science of wind tunnel testing has grown in the past few decades from secondary importance to a vital position in aircraft development and during this period substantial research has been done in this field. Unfortunately due to the huge cost involved in building and operating the present-day supersonic wind tunnels our two main educational institution namely the Royal University and the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology - not to mention all the Secondary Schools - are deprived of such fascilities due to their limited funds. Considering the above facts the author has tried to design an inexpensive supersonic wind tunnel that can be used for various flow experiments, with the hope that some future student would take up his work and actually construct such a tunnel. With this objective in mind, it was decided that the 'Open-Jet supersonic wind tunnel', where the nozzle blows directly into the atmosphere, will be best suited for our experimental purposes. This type of open-jet wind tunnel is quite economical since it eliminates much costly equipment such as vacuum pumps, vacuum tanks, diffusers etc. [...]