DIY wind tunnel aims to educate young people

Usually when we talk about wind tunnels we think of the large installations used by the aerospace and motorsport industries. However, there's nothing stopping you from building your own wind tunnel, and it may even be easier than you think! [Jude Pullen] concocted such a design with DIY in mind.

Intended for high school Design & Technology (D&T) classes, it uses relatively simple material construction techniques. The airflow straightener is constructed from PVC pipe and cardboard end casings. The transparent walls for observation are created in acrylic, while a simple fan provides the necessary flow. The desk-sized wind tunnel can then be fitted with a pressure gauge, tachometer and anemometer to measure pressure, fan speed and wind speed. [Jude] is also exploring experiments that can be done in the wind tunnel, like working with a small balsa wood glider and measuring the lift it generates with a ladder.

The use of a basic wind tunnel is often not taught to engineering students until at least the second or third year of an engineering degree, once all the boring mathematical and static analyzes have been processed. However, there is no reason why high school physics students should not understand the physics involved, and they are more than capable of undertaking such construction. Starting such an education early often offers tremendous benefits for individuals and their eventual career.

Once you have a wind tunnel, you might want to start thinking about flow visualization, which gets really exciting.