Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical Engineering (Vol.1-2010/Iss.

4)
Matheus et al./ Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section … / pp. 210-225

Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section of a


Low-Speed Wind Tunnel
Matheus S. Guzella*, Daniele Manto**, Cleide B. Soares***, Cristiana B. Maia*, Sérgio M. Hanriot*, Luben Cabezas-
Gómez*

* Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pontifícia Universidade
Católica de Minas Gerais – PUC Minas, Av. Dom José Gaspar, 500,
Coração Eucarístico, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, 30535-901
tel/fax: +55 31 3319-4910
e-mail: matheusguzella@gmail.com, cristiana@pucminas.br,hanriot@pucminas.br,luben@pucminas.br
** Stadler Bussnang AG, Ernst-Stadler St. 4 , 9565 Bussnang –
Switzerland
tel: +41(0)716262020
e-mail: manto.daniele@hispeed.ch
*** Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centro Federal de
Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais, Av. Amazonas, 5253. Nova
Suíça. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, 30480-000
e-mail: cleide_bsoares@hotmail.com

Submitted: 29/06/2010
Accepted: 26/09/2010
Appeared: 20/11/2010
”HyperSciences.Publisher

Abstract— This paper presents numerical results and experimental data of the airflow inside a low-speed wind
tunnel made of wood, with a square test section with length of 0.79 m and side of 0.2 m. The experimental tests were
performed in the exit region of the tunnel test section using a Pitot tube and a hot wire anemometer. The numerical
predictions were obtained by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations using the Shear
Stress Transport k-Z turbulence model with the ANSYS-CFX® code. A numerical solution of a fully developed
turbulent channel flow is also presented for comparison purposes. The numerical values of axial velocity were
compared with the measurements in the exit region of the tunnel. The turbulent kinetic energy was compared with
experimental data in the central point of the exit cross-section of the tunnel. The results are in good agreement with
the experimental data.
Keywords: CFD, wind tunnel, SST k-Z turbulence model, Pitot tube, Hot Wire Anemometry, Analytical Solution
1. INTRODUCTION conditions. The indoor air pollutant dispersion and possible
cross-unit contamination in residential buildings was
A wind tunnel is a very powerful tool to help the study of the investigated by Liu et al. (2008), using a boundary layer wind
effects of air moving over or around a body. According to tunnel representing a 10-story residential building. The
Baker (2007), the first wind tunnels predated the advent of assessment of ventilation in buildings was studied by some
aero planes, with Wenham in 1871, but their development researchers (Bady et. al., 2011, Karava et. al., 2011). Several
started between 1960 and 1980, becoming a reliable and other studies were performed using wind tunnels: study of the
robust tool for commercial design purposes. Several reports development of secondary instabilities in compressible swept
of construction and operational principles of wind tunnels are airfoil boundary layers (Li et al., 2010), study on exhaust gas
available in literature, like Diana et al. (1998), Wittner et al. dispersion from road vehicles (Kandaa et al., 2006,a Kandaa
(2000), Balendra et al. (2002) and Cogotti et al. (2008). et al., 2006,b), study of the characteristics of the flow in wind
Experiments performed in wind tunnels are described by turbines (Yu et. al., 2011) and the evaluation of the effect of
several researchers. Bosch et al. (2001) used wind tunnel long-term flights in birds (Jenni-Eiermann et al., 2009).
experiments to establish the effects of wind on cylindrical
components in highway support structures of the United Even with the recent computational advances, wind tunnels
States highway system. The authors present the results of are an essential tool to the study of aerodynamics. Wind
force measurements on a representative sample of tapered tunnel measurements are used to validate CFD
and non-tapered cylinders. Bartoli et al. (2006) performed (Computational Fluid Dynamics) calculations. On the other
wind tunnel tests on an experimental model representing hand, CFD can be used as a tool to support wind tunnel
cables under wind loading, evaluating the variation of the design, wind tunnel testing and the interpretation of the test
axial load at supports at the ends of the cable. Liu et al. results. With the development of powerful computers and
(2008) studied mean drag and lift coefficients for groups of considering the use of turbulence models, CFD showed great
two, three, and four cylinders arranged in-line. Drag and lift results modeling small particle dispersion (Gorlé et al., 2009),
forces were measured in smooth and turbulent flow

The authors are thankful to CNPq, FAPEMIG and PUC Minas

Copyright © 2010 HyperSciences_Publisher. All rights reserved 210 www.hypersciences.org

 Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical Engineering (Vol.1-2010/Iss.4)
Matheus et al./ Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section … / pp. 210-225

the wind flow around a building (Zhang et al., 2008), the
flow conditions in a closed-circuit wind tunnel (Moonen et
al., 2006) and others. Defraeye et al. (2010) performed an
evaluation of the drag of different cyclist positions and
investigated the influence of small adjustments in the
cyclist’s position. Numerical results using CFD were
compared with experimental data from a wind tunnel. Kim et
al. (2010) analyzed the ventilation performance of enclosed-
arcade markets by using wind tunnel experiment and CFD to
provide useful design information for designers of market
In this paper the mathematical model is presented considering
only the main equations used in the numerical simulations
and the model constants. It is important to note that the model
definitions and formulation are presented as used in ANSYS-
CFX® (2006), since the numerical simulations were
performed with this commercial code.
The mass conservation and momentum conservation
equations are given by (1) and (2), respectively:
wU &
arcades. The scaled model was used for the wind tunnel  ’ ˜ UU  0 (1)
wt
experiment, which was conducted to verify the reliability of
the CFD method. w UU  &
 
& & & &
This paper presents a comparison between numerical and
experimental results of velocity and turbulent kinetic energy
in a low-speed wind tunnel. The experimental data were
obtained using a Pitot tube and a hot wire anemometry. The
numerical results were obtained with the ANSYS-CFX®
software, using the k-Z SST turbulence model.
 ’ ˜ UU … U  ’p '  ’ ˜ P eff (’U  (’U ) T )  B
wt
(2)
Where U stands for the mean velocity vector, U represents the
density of the fluid, B is the sum of body forces, Peff is the
effective viscosity accounting for turbulence, and p’ is the
modified pressure. According to ANSYS-CFX® (2006), Peff
and p’ are given respectively by (3) and (4):

2. METHODOLOGY
P eff P  Pt (3)
2.1 Experimental Methodology
2
The experimental tests were performed in an open low-speed p' Uk
p (4)
wind tunnel (Fig. 1). The wind tunnel consists of a blower 3
powered by a 0.75 hp electrical motor, followed by a diffuser From the eddy viscosity concept, the turbulent viscosity, P t ,
altering the cross section from circular to square, a wide- is given by (5):
angle diffuser, a settling chamber, a contraction section and a
square test section. The test section is 200 mm wide and has k2
Pt CP U (5)
790 mm of length. H

The rotation speed of the blower is adjustable, ranging from
1800 rpm to 3450 rpm. Experimental tests were performed to
1800 rpm, 2500 rpm and 3200 rpm. A Pitot-static probe was
used to measure the flow velocity in the exit of the test
section. ISO 3966:1977 establishes a minimum of 25
measurement points. Therefore, 36 measurement points were
used to characterize the velocity profile in the test section,
illustrated in Fig. 2.
The instantaneous velocity was evaluated at the centre of the
test section (of coordinates 0,0 in Fig. 2), using a hot wire
anemometer. The turbulent kinetic energy was determined
with these data. During the experiments, ambient conditions
were controlled: the room temperature was 294 K and the
atmospheric pressure was 90.6 kPa.
In the above expressions P stands for the molecular viscosity,
k is the turbulent kinetic energy, Ȧ represents the turbulent
frequency and CP is a model constant.
In this paper the effects of turbulence are considered through
the application of the k-Z SST turbulence model. The SST
turbulence model was proposed by Menter (1994) from the k-
Z turbulence model, initially formulated by Wilcox (1993).
The baseline k-Z (BSL) model makes use of the k-H model in
regions far away from the walls and the k-Z Wilcox model
near the surface, according to ANSYS-CFX® (2006). The k-
Z SST model is an improvement of the baseline k-Z model,
taking into account the transport of the turbulent shear stress
by a limitation of the eddy viscosity Q t by (6):

2.2 Numerical Methodology a1k

Qt (6)
max(a1 w, SF2 )
2.2.1 Mathematical Model
Where S represents an invariant measure of the strain rate. F2
A CFD technique comprehends the numerical solution of the
is a blending function, which restricts the limiter to the wall
governing flow equations and boundary conditions. In the
boundary layer computed by (7):
analysis, the solution domain is divided into a large number
of infinitesimal control volumes and the governing equations
are solved for each of them. The main governing equations of F2 tanh(arg 22 ) (7)
fluid flow are mass conservation, momentum conservation
and energy conservation. Where arg2 is given by (8):

211
 Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical Engineering (Vol.1-2010/Iss.4)
Matheus et al./ Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section … / pp. 210-225

Lateral walls: It was considered a no slip boundary condition

§ 2 k 500Q · at the walls, meaning that the velocity at the walls has a zero
arg 2 max¨ ' ' 2 ¸ (8) value.
¨E Zy y Z ¸
© ¹
Outlet: In this region a relative static pressure of 0.0 Pa, and a
medium turbulence intensity and eddy viscosity ratio were
The turbulent kinetic energy, k, and the turbulent frequency, assumed. To the turbulent intensity a value of 3.7% was set
Z, are computed by the following two transport relations, (9) up, while the eddy viscosity ratio was equal to the software
and (10), respectively: default value. This type of boundary was set out using the
opening feature of the software (ANSYS-CFX®, 2006). In
this case the fluid can flow into and out of the computational
w Uk  & & ª§ P ·& º
 ’ ˜ UUk  ’ ˜ «¨¨ P  t ¸¸’k »  Pk  E ' UkZ (9) domain. This condition allows the possibility of flow
wt ¬«© V k 3 ¹ ¼» recirculation at the exit of the test section, which is a
condition more close to the real hydrodynamic behavior of
this kind of flow.
w UZ & & ª§ P ·& º
 ’ ˜ UUZ ’ ˜ «¨¨ P  t ¸¸’Z»  The flow was assumed isothermal at a temperature of 294K.
wt ¬© V Z3 ¹ ¼ The atmospheric pressure was considered as 90.6kPa. Both
values were measured in the experiments.
1  F2 2U 1 ’k ’Z  D 3 Z Pk  E3UZ2
& &
V Z2 Z k The Shear Stress Transport Model (SST k-Z model) was used
(10)
The constants used in the SST model equations are defined
as:
E ' 0.09; D1 5 9 ; E1 0.075; V k1 2; V Z1 2;
D 2 0.44; E 2 0.0828; V k 2 1; and V w2 1 0.856
The coefficients of the SST model (D3, E3, and VZ3) are a
linear combination of the corresponding coefficients of the
underlying models, given by (11):
)3 F2 )1  (1  F2 )) 2
In the transport equations, Pk is the turbulence production
tensor due to viscous forces, which is computed by (12):
Pk
&
& &
in this work, because this turbulence model showed best
prediction of velocity fluctuations near the wall, typical of
this kind of flow, in comparison to the k-Ȧ and k-İ models
(Soares et al., 2009). Colaciti et al. (2007) also observed a
similar behavior in turbulent radial diffuser airflow.
In the simulations the software default turbulent wall
functions were assumed (ANSYS-CFX®, 2006). A detailed
explanation about the formulation of these functions is
presented in Volfang et al. (2002).
2.2.3 Hydrodynamic fully developed flow solution
In the present paper the numerical results are also compared
(11)
with a numerical solution of a hydrodynamic fully developed
turbulent channel flow. This solution was obtained in the
EES® (Engineering Equation Solver) (Klein and Alvarado,
1995). The aim of this comparison is to show that the flow in
the exit region of the test section is not hydrodynamic fully
P t ’U ˜ ’U  ’U T   23 ’& ˜ U 3P ’& ˜ U  Uk 
t (12) developed, as expected.

The numerical solution to a one-dimensional turbulent fully

2.2.2 Boundary Conditions developed channel flow in x direction is obtained iteratively
solving the following equations in the EES:
The numerical simulations of the airflow inside the tunnel
test section were performed considering the following three Ac dp
rotation speeds: 1800 rpm, 2500 rpm and 3200 rpm. Those Ws  (13)
P dx
rotation speeds are related to the following mass flow rates:
0.22 kg/s, 0.30 kg/s and 0.38 kg/s, respectively. Where the pressure gradient is given by (14):
The computational domain employed in all simulations is dp Uu m f
presented in Fig. 3. The following boundary conditions were (14)
dx 2 Dh
assumed:

Inlet: It was specified the mean inlet mass flow rate equals to And the parameters are given by (15), (16) and (17):
the mean experimental value found in the experiments.
1
Medium turbulence intensity and eddy viscosity ratio were
assumed (Volfang et al., 2002).
um
Ac ³ udA
c (15)

u u u* (16)

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Matheus et al./ Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section … / pp. 210-225

Ws correlation for an external flow over a flat plate, given by

u* (17) Schlichting (1968):
U
G
In the above expressions Ws is the mean wall shear stress, Ac 0.37 Re z 0.2 (25)
z
represents the channel cross-sectional area, P means the
channel perimeter, um is the channel mean velocity, f stands Where Rez is given by (26):
for the mean friction factor, Dh is the hydraulic channel
diameter, u stands for the local mean channel velocity, u* Uu m z
represents the friction velocity and, u+ is the inner Re z (26)
P
dimensionless velocity.

In order to compute u+, it was employed the Spalding (1961)
universal velocity distribution, as a function of the inner
dimensionless coordinate y+, given by (20):
y u   0.11408 A
Where A is given by (21):
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The numerical simulations were obtained using the software
ANSYS-CFX® 11.0 on a Intel (R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU
T8100 @ 2.10GHz - 4.00GB RAM. According to ANSYS-
(20) CFX® (2006), tetrahedral elements are not efficient for
capturing boundary layers effects, and then prismatic
elements near the walls needs to be constructed, since they
are efficient to capture these effects near the surfaces. In the

A exp(Nu  )  1  Nu  
Nu   Nu   Nu 
 2  3  4
(21)
2 6 24
In the EES code the value of the mean channel velocity is
assumed equal to the experimental mean velocity, and from
this value all the other parameters are obtained. To perform
this computational process the channel is discretized from the
wall up to the central region, in order to compute the local
velocities distributions (u and u+) along the half channel
height. The mean friction factor in this case is an output
result, which can be compared with literature correlations. In
this paper the local velocity profile is compared with both
experimental data and numerical results values.
2.2.4 Correlations for pressure drop and boundary layer
thickness computation
The numerical pressure drop along the test section is
compared with a pressure drop computed for a turbulent
developed flow using a traditional procedure. The pressure
drop in this case is calculated by (22):
Uu m 2 L
'p f (22)
2 Dh
Where f is given by (23), considering a smooth duct:
§ 2.51 ·
1
2 log¨ ¸ (23)
f ¨ Re f ¸
© Dh ¹
In (23) the Reynolds number is computed as:
Uu m D h
Re Dh
P numerical results is the simulation of the test section alone
The boundary layer thickness of the turbulent flow inside the
test section was computed as in (25), considering the
present work were created four unstructured hybrid meshes
(mesh 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively), using the software ANSYS-
ICEM CFD® 11.0, with tetrahedral elements in the central
regions and prismatic elements near the tunnel walls, in order
to capture boundary layers features. The computational
meshes were constructed considering an increasing number
of nodes.
Table 1 shows the variation of the axial mean velocity (in
m/s) and of the turbulent kinetic energy, k (in m2/s2) in the
center of the test section with the mesh size for a 2500 rpm
rotation. It can be noted that the results are mesh independent
for the finer mesh (mesh 4). Table 1 also shows the total
computational time (in minutes) of the simulations, and the
maximum value of y+ (dimensionless wall distance). This
last parameter should be checked out to establish if the mesh
resolution is correct for the applied turbulence model in
simulations. In the present case, the y+ values are in
agreement with the allowed values set out in ANSYS-CFX®
(2006) for the k-Z SST model. Considering mesh size
independence of mesh 4, only the numerical results obtained
for this mesh are used in the next analyses.
In Fig. 4 is shown a comparison of the experimental velocity
data obtained using a Pitot tube, with the numerical velocity
profiles at the coordinate Y=87.8 mm, also considering the
uncertainty of experimental data. (see Fig. 2).
It can be noticed a good agreement between the experimental
data and the numerical results, for all considered rotations
(1800 rpm, 2500 rpm and 3200 rpm). The higher differences
are obtained in the regions near the right tunnel wall. These
differences could be explained by small distortions on the
right side of the wood wind tunnel walls caused by an
asymmetry wood expansion due to the room humidity and
(24) other conditions. Another fact that could also influence the
considering a mean mass flow rate value from experiments;
and not the local velocity and mass flow rate distribution is
this section. This local flow features are a consequence of the
flow developing process from the ventilator up to the
213
 Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical Engineering (Vol.1-2010/Iss.4)
Matheus et al./ Airflow CFD Modeling in the Test Section … / pp. 210-225
assumed inlet region of the test section of the tunnel (see Fig.
2).
Fig. 5 and fig. 6 show the 3D velocity profile obtained by
numerical simulation.
The turbulent kinetic energy numerical profiles for meshes 1
and 4 in the center of the exit region are displayed in Fig. 6.
These profiles are compared with an experimental value
(0.01495 m2/s2) obtained in the center of the tunnel using a
hot wire anemometer sensor (Soares, 2008). The turbulent
kinetic energy is associated with the rms velocity
fluctuations. Laufer (1948) showed, using a hot wire
anemometer, that the rms fluctuations in a turbulent
developed channel flow are small in the regions near the
walls and have a sharp maximum near the edges of the
laminar sub layers, existing a strong movement of kinetic
energy away from these points. The behavior of the turbulent
kinetic energy of the numerical simulations is very similar to
that described by Laufer (1948) for a channel flow. Future
works should address more refined experiments in near wall
regions to perform a more complete analysis. At the mean
time the model predict well the turbulent kinetic energy in the
central region of the tunnel in comparison with the available
experimental data.
The axial (z direction) air pressure distribution in the middle
line of the test section is shown in Fig. 7 for 3200 rpm. As
expected the pressure decreases towards the outlet region of
the tunnel, following almost a linear distribution of the
pressure drop. It can be seen that this kind of flow presents a
very small pressure gradients.
It was evaluated the pressure drop considering a fully
developed flow inside the test section. The pressure drop
obtained by numerical simulation for 3200 rpm was 2.88 Pa,
while the value obtained considering a fully developed flow
(eq. 18) was 2.03 Pa. The discrepancy between the results can
be explained due to the assumption of the fully developed
flow in the analytical solution.
Considering the inlet section as the starting coordinate (z = 0)
and also considering that the main flow is turbulent from this
section, the boundary layer thickness at the outlet region (z =
0.79 m) is 0.022 m, indicating that flow is not fully
developed (the test section width is 0.2 m).
In Fig. 8 is shown a comparison of the cross-sectional
numerical velocity profiles simulated in the CFX code with
those obtained for a hydrodynamic developed turbulent
channel flow. Also in Fig. 8 are shown the experimental data
for comparison purposes. All these quantities correspond to
2500 rpm. The results presented in Fig. 8 clearly show that
the flow in the outlet section of the tunnel is not
hydrodynamic developed. In fact it is expected that inside a
wind tunnel the flow does not becomes fully developed in
order to not disturb the main flow distribution as well as the
aerodynamic tests to be performed inside the tunnel.
4. CONCLUSION
214
The present paper presents a comparison between numerical
and experimental data in the test section of a wood low speed
open wind tunnel. Detailed Pitot and hot wire anemometry
measurements were made to examine the flow behavior in the
exit region of the wind tunnel. Numerical results were
obtained using the k-Z SST turbulence model. The
simulation results were compared with the mean time
experimental cross-section velocity profiles as a function of
three values of the inlet mass flow rate, as well as with the
experimental value of the turbulent kinetic energy in the
centre of the exit region of the wind tunnel. The numerical
velocity profile was also compared with a solution for a
hydrodynamic fully developed turbulent channel flow. The
pressure drop along the test section obtained numerically was
confronted with literature correlation. The comparison of the
numerical results with experimental data and with the fully
developed solution showed that the employed mathematical
model produced reasonable results. More advanced studies
should be carried on to confirm the present commentaries.
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AUTHORS PROFILE
Matheus dos Santos Guzella is a graduating student in Mechanics
Engineering (emphasis in mechathonics) at Pontifical Catholic University of
Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has been working as a research
student at the university. His main research interests are computational fluid
dynamics with emphasis on turbulence modelling, generation techniques of
unstructured and structured meshes, numerical simulations using CFD codes.
Daniele Manto received his Bachelor Degree in Science in Mechanical
Engineering with Specialization in Mechanical Engineering Informatics at
UAS Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. He worked as a researcher at Pontifical
Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil for four months,
working now as a system engineer for Stadler Bussnang AG.
Cleide Barbosa Soares is a doctorate student at Pontifical Catholic University
of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She received her master degree in
Mechanics Engineering at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais in
2008. Her main research interests are aerodynamics, wind tunnel
instrumentation, fluid mechanics and turbulent flows.
Cristiana Brasil Maia is a professor of Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics
and Heat Transfer at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo
Horizonte, Brazil. She received her doctorate degree in 2005 from Federal
University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her main research
 Journal of Advanced Research in Mechanical Engineering (Vol.1-2010/Iss.4)
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interests are numerical analysis of fluid mechanics and heat transfer

problems, solar processes and solar drying.
Sérgio de Morais Hanriot is a professor of Fluid Mechanics,
Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer at Pontifical Catholic University of
Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He received his doctorate degree in
2001 from Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. His
main research interests are applied fluid dynamics, pulsating fluids and
refrigeration systems.

Luben Cabezas-Gómez is a professor of Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics

and Heat Transfer at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo
Horizonte, Brazil. He received her doctorate degree in 2003 from University
of São Paulo (EESC-USP), São Paulo, Brazil. His main research interests are
numerical analysis of fluid mechanics and heat transfer problems, numerical
simulation of two-phase flows and study of heat exchangers.

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Fig. 1. Low-speed wind tunnel.

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Fig. 2. Velocity points measured using Pitot tube (Soares et

al.)

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Fig. 3. Cross-sectional structure of the computational mesh

(mesh 4).

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Fig. 4. Velocity profiles at the exit wind tunnel section for

Y=87.8 mm.

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Fig. 5. Three dimensional velocity distribution in the outlet of

the test section.

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Fig. 6. Turbulent kinetic energy data for 2500 rpm.

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Fig. 7. Axial relative pressure distribution along the middle

line of the test section.

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Fig. 8. Comparison of CFD numerical results with a

numerical solution for a hydrodynamic developed
turbulent channel flow.

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Table 1. Mesh size results dependence (2500 rpm).

Mesh Nodes Velocity TKE y+ Time
(m/s) (m2/s2) (min)
1 165435 7.3457 0.0141 8.2 27
2 409628 7.3403 0.0140 6.1 49
3 961860 7.3377 0.0139 5.6 71
4 1571004 7.3377 0.0139 5.0 185

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