Car wind noise can be heard inside of your vehicle while driving on the highway and is the audible result of high-pressure air attempting to escape as you accelerate. This whooshing sound, high-pitched, enters through the smallest gaps or openings in the vehicle’s exterior. In automotive design, as with other design fields, variations and uncertainties…
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a specialized area of fluid mechanics that utilizes numerical methods and computational algorithms to investigate and resolve challenges related to fluid flows. By leveraging computers, CFD analyzes the movement of fluids (both liquids and gases) and their interaction with various surfaces under specific boundary conditions. High-speed supercomputers are often necessary…
Energy storage refers to the process of capturing energy generated at one point in time for later use, helping to balance disparities between energy demand and production. Devices designed for this purpose are commonly known as accumulators or batteries. Energy storage entails converting energy from less manageable forms into more easily stored and economically viable…
Have you ever wondered why some cars are faster and more efficient than others? Well, it all comes down to something called automotive aerodynamics. The field of automotive aerodynamics involves examining the airflow around a vehicle. The goal is to diminish drag and wind noise and avoid unintended lift forces contributing to aerodynamic instability, particularly…
The leaf blower shown operates steadily and discharges air at the exit velocity of 180 ft/s. Assuming that the discharge pipe is of constant diameter with f = 0.02, that the minor losses at the blower inlet are Kinlet=1.3 and that the air density is rho=0.0735 lbm/ft3 , A) Estimate the total pressure increase across…
The relief valve is designed or adjusted to open at a specific set pressure, ensuring that pressure vessels and other equipment are not exposed to pressures exceeding their intended limits, thus protecting them. Definition: A relief valve, also known as pressure relief valve (PRV) is a safety valve that’s primary function is to regulate or…
Background and Theory This laboratory investigates how the drag coefficient changes with respect to Reynolds number Cd(Re) for two wing types commonly found on aircraft, slightly swept wing and the elliptical wing. A model plane was placed in a wind tunnel which carefully controls and monitors the airflow so the forces/pressure acting on the plane…
Abstract: This laboratory investigates how the drag coefficient changes with respect to Reynolds number Cd(Re) for a smooth sphere and a sphere with bumps. The bumps on the sphere were modeled by adding a rubber band on the sphere. The sphere was placed in a wind tunnel which carefully controls and monitors the airflow so…
Background and Theory This experiment attempts to determine how volumetric flow rate effects changes in head, shaft power and the efficiency of the pump. To simplify this experiment, some assumption/idealizations were made. During this experiment the system is treated as slow speed, steady state with incompressible flow, the pipe and machine walls are solid so…
Background and Theory This experiment looks at how different obstructions affect the force exerted by a water jet. To obstruct the flow of fluid vanes were used. A vane as defined by Webster’s dictionary is “a thin flat or curved object that is rotated about an axis by a flow of fluid or that rotates…