So, it begins. This is why I'm here in Norway. To do an experimental study on high lift airfoils. Sounds canggih right. But let me assure you, it is one crazy experimental study. As starting from today, I have full access to the wind tunnel here in NTNU(the Norwegian University I'm currently in) which means I can run the tunnel at 0300 in the morning if I wish to. Well of course I'm not that crazy or kiasu to do so but the idea sounds cool!
The wing which I'm testing.To most people, they might think that this is nothing special, it just a tunnel which blows air? But to us, Aeronautical students, this is like playing WoW or dotA all day long without feeling guilty not going for lectures. The amazing part is that I am now IN CHARGE of the tunnel so I can do as I please with it. MUAHAHAHAHA! Though of course, I better don't do anything funny because it cost about 250,000 pounds. Don't think my parents would appreciate if I went destroying something that expensive and adding onto their bill.
Anyway, I was quite excited to get going. I was given the green light to start testing the wing at 10a.m. However, being totally new to all these equipments(transducers, amplifiers and goodness what - you EE people should know) I had to play around for an hour to get all the settings right. And then it started, the first time I switching on the wind tunnel. The roaring sound of the motor sounded great and turning the nob to increase the speed was fun. It gave this wheezing sound.
The wind tunnel I'm in control of. MUAHAHAHAHA.Round 1
Once I set the wind speed I wanted, I had to manually clicked, pressed and switched 66 times on the machines because I had 66 pressure tappings in the airfoil. Sorry if this gets a bit technical but hey, it is all about aero stuff :). Not knowing what I did for the next 45 minutes, I decided to make a graph and the plot was a straight line. My heart fell because it wasn't suppose to be a straight line but more like an airfoil shaped-like. I decided to fidget the other pressure tappings and yes, it was the one wrong into the transducer. Sigh. All that work took me nearly 1 1/2 hours to get the measurements so I had a quick lunch and went back for round 2.
Round 2
I knew that I was right this time and ran the experiment again. Now, my graph wasn't a straight line but more like what I expected to be. And here I thought that I would be done and moved on to the next set of measurements(i.e. a different angle of attack). However, when I showed my results to my Prof, he was like "This is wrong. Something is wrong with your stagnation point." I felt like running into a wall. I already spent another 1 1/2 hours doing the same thing(yes - another 66 clicking, pressing and switching) and the results are still wrong. Both of us tried to find what the problem was and it turned out to be me NOT using the right pressure tappings. I felt like an idiot then. Oh well.
Round 3
Still determined to finish this experiment for today at least, I ran it again with all the proper tappings. And victory was mine. I managed to get the results I wanted. It all looked fine and I was too burnt out to continue the next set of measurement. Well, actually it was more of atechnicality issue. But I think I have been rambling with my jargon and I think most of you here must be thinking 'Uh huh, what is Cheng Chun talking about. Nevermind, it sounds cool'.
Ahhhhhh. The day was over for me. After a long day's work where sitting there clicking, pressing and switching, I know this wasn't a brainer job but it is definitely quite sian to sit there for 5 hours worrying about your results being right or wrong. Oh well, day 1 using the wind tunnel is over for now. As for now, I'm back in my room waiting for my kiam chai soup to boil. I really need something soupy to calm my nerves.
Once I set the wind speed I wanted, I had to manually clicked, pressed and switched 66 times on the machines because I had 66 pressure tappings in the airfoil. Sorry if this gets a bit technical but hey, it is all about aero stuff :). Not knowing what I did for the next 45 minutes, I decided to make a graph and the plot was a straight line. My heart fell because it wasn't suppose to be a straight line but more like an airfoil shaped-like. I decided to fidget the other pressure tappings and yes, it was the one wrong into the transducer. Sigh. All that work took me nearly 1 1/2 hours to get the measurements so I had a quick lunch and went back for round 2.
Round 2
I knew that I was right this time and ran the experiment again. Now, my graph wasn't a straight line but more like what I expected to be. And here I thought that I would be done and moved on to the next set of measurements(i.e. a different angle of attack). However, when I showed my results to my Prof, he was like "This is wrong. Something is wrong with your stagnation point." I felt like running into a wall. I already spent another 1 1/2 hours doing the same thing(yes - another 66 clicking, pressing and switching) and the results are still wrong. Both of us tried to find what the problem was and it turned out to be me NOT using the right pressure tappings. I felt like an idiot then. Oh well.
Round 3
Still determined to finish this experiment for today at least, I ran it again with all the proper tappings. And victory was mine. I managed to get the results I wanted. It all looked fine and I was too burnt out to continue the next set of measurement. Well, actually it was more of atechnicality issue. But I think I have been rambling with my jargon and I think most of you here must be thinking 'Uh huh, what is Cheng Chun talking about. Nevermind, it sounds cool'.
Ahhhhhh. The day was over for me. After a long day's work where sitting there clicking, pressing and switching, I know this wasn't a brainer job but it is definitely quite sian to sit there for 5 hours worrying about your results being right or wrong. Oh well, day 1 using the wind tunnel is over for now. As for now, I'm back in my room waiting for my kiam chai soup to boil. I really need something soupy to calm my nerves.
Oh yea, here are some of the pictures of my experiment.
The pressure holes in the airfoil. Inside those holes are tubes linking to a computer. This is where I get to calculate the pressure.
Pitot tube - To calculate the total pressure in the wind tunnel. From here we can get the true wind speed of the wind tunnel.
Me doing work. Serious. :)Feel free to ask me anything about the project though I think you all will run away. Hahaha.
3 comments:
*runs away*
runs further away!!!
Alamak... They are really running away... :S Hmmmmm... Must be from EE one... ():)
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