Wall corrections As mentioned in the test setup description the tests of the 2D and 3D airfoils were performed in a closed

section wind tunnel. The walls of the closed section cause deviations of the measurements compared to the free stream. The most important sources of inaccuracy are: Buoyancy Model blockage Wake blockage Lift interference

Wind tunnel buoyancy is caused by a boundary layer growth on the walls of the working section, which is equivalent to a contraction of the cross sectional area of the test section. The flow in the section is accelerated, causing a drop in static pressure. This results in a backwards acting force that is dependent on the frontal area of the model. Therefore, buoyancy artificially increases the drag. The longitudinal pressure drop caused by the boundary layer growth is nearly linear and its gradient is given by:

Where is the height of the test section and is a constant that has to be determined for each individual wind tunnel. The buoyancy correction depends on the longitudinal pressure gradient and the body volume :

Where is the correction to be applied on the measured drag force. As no data for was provided and the effect of buoyancy is usually insignificant for airfoils tested in wind tunnels with a constant area test section, no buoyancy corrections where applied. The physical presence of the model in the wind tunnel is called model blockage and reduces the effective area of the test section. This results in an increased stream velocity over the model which at a given angle of attack increases all forces and moments. The effect can be corrected by adjusting the effective airspeed. The correction to the airspeed is given by:

Where is the uncorrected airspeed and given by:

is the correction factor that is for a circular cylinder

Where

is the radius of the cylinder. The correction factor for a more general shape is:

Where S is the test section area and and for a vertical model.

the volume of the body.

for a horizontal model

Another form of blockage is the wake blockage which is caused by the fact that the velocity in the wake of the airfoil is lower than the free stream velocity. To satisfy the continuity equation in the test section, the flow outside the wake must increase as shown in figure X.X.

Figure 1 Velocity distribution causing wake blockage

Wake blockage can also be corrected by adjusting the effective airspeed. The airspeed correction is given by:

Where the correction factor

is given by:

Where is the wing chord and

is the uncorrected 2D drag coefficient.

The last effect caused by the walls of the closed test section is lift interference or streamline curvature. The wind tunnel walls artificially straighten the flow streamlines around the body, increasing the effective camber of the airfoil. In closed wind tunnel sections as the one used, this results in an increase in lift, the pitching moment about the half chord and effective angle of attack. The drag remains unaffected. This effect requires corrections to the lift coefficient, moment coefficient and angle of attack. The corrected lift coefficient becomes:

Where

is the uncorrected lift coefficient. and

are given by: ( )

The moment coefficient around the half chord becomes:

The change in the angle of attack due to the streamline curvature is given by:

In summary there are two categories of corrections that have to be applied to the data, namely model and stream corrections. The most important stream quantity is the velocity at the airfoil. Taking the measured free stream velocity and applying both body and wake blockage yields the following formula for the velocity at the airfoil:

The formulas for the corrected dynamic pressure and Reynolds number that can be derived from that expression are:

The total corrected zero lift drag is given by: