Experimental investigation on turbulence intensity reduction in subsonic wind tunnels

Experiments are performed to evaluate the impact of trip wires on the turbulence intensity in a few low speed wind tunnels. Trip wires of different sizes are installed at different positions in the contraction section of four different wind tunnels and measurements are made at various free stream velocities. The results indicate that the pressure distributions are altered compared to the clean condition. Trip wires move the adverse pressure gradient toward the inlet of the contraction section. Consequently, the turbulence intensity in the test section of the wind tunnels is reduced and the flow uniformity is improved considerably. Frequency and statistical analysis are performed and the results are in agreement with the experimental finding. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.