In 1943, on orders from the German Air Ministry, young physicist Peter P. Wegener left the Russian front and reported to the Baltic village of Peenemünde. His assignment was to work at the supersonic wind tunnels of the rocket laboratories of the German Army. Here Wernher von Braun led a team that developed the V-2, the world's first large rocket-powered guided missile, and laid much of the groundwork for postwar rocket development. In this fascinating book, Wegener recounts his experiences during Hitler's time, World War II, and his years at Peenemünde. He tells how he was working one night in August 1943 when the Allies bombed the laboratories, but left the wind tunnels undamaged. The tunnels were moved to Bavaria, and Wegener was ordered to follow in 1944. After the war, the tunnels were moved again--this time to the United States, accompanied by the author and other German scientists. Shortly before the end of the war, Wegener visited Germany's underground V-2 production plant to retrieve archival material on aerodynamics that had been stored in caves for safekeeping. He describes the appalling history of the concentration camps where SS guards watched over inmates who toiled underground in inhuman conditions and often did not survive. A photoessay enhances this remarkable memoir.

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.

This book describes the history of the NASA Ames 40- by 80-Foot and 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnels and is organized in four parts: Design and Construction; Operation and Management History; Research History; and Concluding Remarks, References, and Appendices.

Numerous aspects of transonic aerodynamics include wall interference corrections in conventional wind tunnels, subsonic flow in a variety of wind tunnels, and test results from transonic wind tunnels. 1961 edition.

Wind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a brief history of wind tunnels and its types and uses, the book goes on to cover subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnel design and construction, calibration, boundary corrections, flow quality assessment, pressure surveys, and dynamic testing. It also focuses on wind tunnel facilities, making it useful for both the designer and operator. Engineers and graduate students in aerospace, automotive and similar programs will find this book useful in their work with experimental aerodynamics, gas dynamics, facility design and performance. - Deals with a broad range of flow speeds in wind tunnels, from low speed to high speed - Provides a discussion of similarity laws as well as material on statistical analysis - Includes coverage on facility-to-facility and facility-to-CFD correlation - Presents advanced topics such as cryogenic wind tunnels, ground simulation in automotive testing, and propulsion testing