Wind tunnels are facilities in which the wind is produced by fans or by compressed air to study and measure the action of the air flow around a solid. There are two basic types of wind tunnels: the closed-circuit and the open-circuit. Open-circuits draw air from the ambient environment and exhaust it back to the ambient after exiting the fan, while in closed-circuit, the air repeatedly circulates through the tunnel. The closed-circuit design delivers improved efficiency and generates less noise, but it is more expensive and more difficult to manufacture. Wind tunnels are typically used in aerodynamic research to analyse the behaviour of flows under varying conditions, both within channels and over solid surfaces. The present book focus on uses and developments of wind tunnels. It consists on nine chapters presenting different studies on the design, uses and developments of the wind tunnel in different applications like wind turbines, building and aircraft models. The presented case studies and development approaches aim to provide the readers, such as engineers and PhD students, with basic and applied studies broadly related to the wind tunnels and its applications.

A brand-new edition of the classic guide on low-speed wind tunnel testing While great advances in theoretical and computational methods have been made in recent years, low-speed wind tunnel testing remains essential for obtaining the full range of data needed to guide detailed design decisions for many practical engineering problems. This long-awaited Third Edition of William H. Rae, Jr.'s landmark reference brings together essential information on all aspects of low-speed wind tunnel design, analysis, testing, and instrumentation in one easy-to-use resource. Written by authors who are among the most respected wind tunnel engineers in the world, this edition has been updated to address current topics and applications, and includes coverage of digital electronics, new instrumentation, video and photographic methods, pressure-sensitive paint, and liquid crystal-based measurement methods. The book is organized for quick access to topics of interest, and examines basic test techniques and objectives of modeling and testing aircraft designs in low-speed wind tunnels, as well as applications to fluid motion analysis, automobiles, marine vessels, buildings, bridges, and other structures subject to wind loading. Supplemented with real-world examples throughout, Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing, Third Edition is an indispensable resource for aerospace engineering students and professionals, engineers and researchers in the automotive industries, wind tunnel designers, architects, and others who need to get the most from low-speed wind tunnel technology and experiments in their work.

Physical models have been, and continue to be used by engineers when faced with unprecedented challenges, when engineering science has been non-existent or inadequate, and in any other situation when the engineer has needed to raise their confidence in a design proposal to a sufficient level to begin construction. For this reason, models have mostly been used by designers and constructors of highly innovative projects, when previous experience has not been available. The book covers the history of using of physical models in the design and development of civil and building engineering projects including bridges in the mid-18th century, William Fairbairn?s Britannia bridge in the 1840s, the masonry Aswan Dam in the 1890s, concrete dams in the 1920s, thin concrete shell roofs and the dynamic behaviour of tall buildings in earthquakes from the 1930s, tidal flow in estuaries and the acoustics of concert halls from the 1950s, and cable-net and membrane structures in the 1960s. Traditionally, progress in engineering has been attributed to the creation and use of engineering science, the understanding materials properties and the development of new construction methods. The book argues that the use of reduced scale models have played an equally important part in the development of civil and building engineering. However, like the history of engineering design itself, this crucial contribution has not been widely reported or celebrated. The book concludes with reviews of the current use of physical models alongside computer models, for example, in boundary layer wind tunnels, room acoustics, seismic engineering, hydrology, and air flow in buildings.

The book "Wind Tunnels and Experimental Fluid Dynamics Research" is comprised of 33 chapters divided in five sections. The first 12 chapters discuss wind tunnel facilities and experiments in incompressible flow, while the next seven chapters deal with building dynamics, flow control and fluid mechanics. Third section of the book is dedicated to chapters discussing aerodynamic field measurements and real full scale analysis (chapters 20-22). Chapters in the last two sections deal with turbulent structure analysis (chapters 23-25) and wind tunnels in compressible flow (chapters 26-33). Contributions from a large number of international experts make this publication a highly valuable resource in wind tunnels and fluid dynamics field of research.