The Aerospace Engineering Department has a general-purpose wind tunnel, which was donated to the department by the Boeing Company (formerly McDonnell Douglas), in 1993. This is a low speed closed circuit tunnel which has a 96.5 X 137 X 305 cm working area. The tunnel has a 10:1 contraction with a maximum free stream speed of 90 m/sec in the working area. The settling chamber has a honeycomb and six screens for flow conditioning. For speeds less than 50 m/sec. the free stream turbulence is less than 0.02 percent and the non-uniformity in the flow across the test section is less than 0.1 percent per 5 cm.

Instrumentation available in the tunnel consists of

• Five channels of TSI IFA 100 intelligent flow analyzer with signal conditioner, one channel of TSI model 1050 constant temperature anemometer, a TSI signal conditioner model 1015C, a four channel B&K analog tape recorder which has a maximum frequency response of 15 KHz and a two channels Scientific Atlanta Spectroscope III model SD 345 spectrum analyzer. Also in place are a fast response Setra Systems manometers and associated Pitot tubes for accurate measurement of mean pressure and velocity and a Newport temperature bridge model 267B and RTD probes for mean temperature measurements.

• Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) System. The LDV system is a single component, off axis, forward scatter collection. The clear collection aperture is 40 mm and the transmitter focal length is 300-mm. Fringe separation is 6 micron. The laser used is a Lexel Argon-Ion model 85 with maximum power output of 1 Watt. It has photomultiplier and associated signal conditioning electronics and Frequency domain single-component signal processor with a PC driver software.

The wind tunnel has been used by companies such as Boeing, Aerospace Corporation and Aerojet for various projects as well as by students taking AE 440 L.