NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

Brown Kenneth A, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Kenneth Brown of Virginia Tech to conduct a research project in Engineering during the summer of 2013 at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Tokyo. The project title is "Development of a Novel, Porous-Walled Wind Tunnel with Implications for Low Noise Wind Turbines, Aircraft, and Naval Vessels." The host scientist is Dr. Kazuomi Yamamoto. There are yet only two wind tunnels worldwide to employ the novel hybrid anechoic test section, named as such because it integrates an aerodynamically closed test section similar to those of traditional wind tunnels with an acoustically open testing capability similar to that of open jet tunnels through the use of thin, porous Kevlar® cloth walls. Due to the significant opportunity for advances in aeroacoustics research that such a test section affords, Virginia Tech's Stability Wind Tunnel has developed a high fidelity method to a priori correct pressure data for lift interference and blockage that employs a panel method simulation derived entirely from first principles and independently measured physical properties. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Low Speed Wind Tunnel has also developed a correction method, but it derives from a different basis than that established at the Stability Wind Tunnel. The current research aims to join aerodynamic data from both wind tunnels to produce a unified method for correcting pressure data in porous-walled, hybrid anechoic test sections. Another impact of the research trip is the collaboration produced between Virginia Tech Tech's Stability Wind Tunnel and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, both of which organizations are on the forefront of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics research. Given that these two tunnels are yet the only two wind tunnels worldwide to employ the hybrid test section, this research collaboration provides an opportunity to direct the course of aeroacoustics research by establishing a unified aerodynamic correction method for hybrid test sections. An accurate evaluation of the aerodynamic characteristics of such test sections, when combined with the simultaneous measurement of detailed acoustic data that such test sections afford, provides unique opportunities in the development of wind turbine blades, high-speed trains, aircraft, automobiles, submarines, and other new and old technologies. In each of these fields, the balance between high performance aerodynamics and low noise emission acoustics must be struck with precision. Incorporating these two aspects of wind tunnel measurement into one test section has widespread benefits and attracts research interest from leading world research organizations such as NASA, DLR, and ONERA. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, the results of the research will be disseminated through both the Fellow's thesis and additional publications and seminars by the Fellow. Through these means, it is feasible to think that hybrid test sections may emerge as the next generation wind tunnel configuration, broadening the research capability of the aeroacoustics community.