Supersonic wind tunnel testing pics

wahoo84 · 24th March 2007, 11:49 PM

They're not THAT exciting but just for those who wanna see what shockwaves look like...

Pay careful attention the the 2nd pic. You can make our the shockwave by looking for the "blur" in the air due to changing air density slowing down the light passing through it.

The other 2 pics of the shockwaves have been taken by a digital SLR with some additional optics to assist in the creation of these pictures.

Oh btw, the air velocity inside the tunnel was around M3.5

Enjoy

wahoo

Danske · 25th March 2007, 12:39 PM

Wow that is pretty cool! amazing how you can see the distortion in the second pic

Did you take those images? and/or were you there?

wahoo84 · 25th March 2007, 4:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danske

Wow that is pretty cool! amazing how you can see the distortion in the second pic

Did you take those images? and/or were you there?

I took the pictures. Although the 1st/3rd pictures are a pic of a pic... coz my cheapo digicam isn't good enough...

ener · 25th March 2007, 4:43 PM

is that thing really big or small, it looks pretty cool, now if its big, are you going to get inside it?

Xassius · 25th March 2007, 5:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ener

is that thing really big or small, it looks pretty cool, now if its big, are you going to get inside it?

That thing is probably 15cm in diametre

it's cool how u can see the distortions in the 2nd pic!

wahoo84 · 25th March 2007, 9:11 PM

It's really small... pretty damn hard making a LARGE scale SUPER SONIC wind tunnel :P

Considering the tunnel can only be ran for a maximum of around 5 mins, limited by the amount of compressed gas.

mAJORD · 25th March 2007, 9:32 PM

That's awesome.

Reminds me of some pictures of shock wave distortions visable on the upper surface of Aircraft wings. With shadows cast on the surface from the diffraction.

never seen it myself.. requires the sun to be in the right orientation, and only visable on certain aircraft

24th March 2007, 11:49 PM	#1
wahoo84 Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,265	Supersonic wind tunnel testing pics They're not THAT exciting but just for those who wanna see what shockwaves look like... Pay careful attention the the 2nd pic. You can make our the shockwave by looking for the "blur" in the air due to changing air density slowing down the light passing through it. The other 2 pics of the shockwaves have been taken by a digital SLR with some additional optics to assist in the creation of these pictures. Oh btw, the air velocity inside the tunnel was around M3.5 Enjoy wahoo __________________ ^{_{40D\|17-70mm F/2.8-4.5}_{\|10-22mm F/3.5-4.5\|50mm F/1.8\|70-300mm F/4-}_{5.6 IS}} My Flickr!

25th March 2007, 9:11 PM	#6
wahoo84 Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,265	It's really small... pretty damn hard making a LARGE scale SUPER SONIC wind tunnel :P Considering the tunnel can only be ran for a maximum of around 5 mins, limited by the amount of compressed gas. __________________ ^{_{40D\|17-70mm F/2.8-4.5}_{\|10-22mm F/3.5-4.5\|50mm F/1.8\|70-300mm F/4-}_{5.6 IS}} My Flickr!

25th March 2007, 9:32 PM	#7
mAJORD Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Griffin , Brisbane Posts: 6,727	That's awesome. Reminds me of some pictures of shock wave distortions visable on the upper surface of Aircraft wings. With shadows cast on the surface from the diffraction. never seen it myself.. requires the sun to be in the right orientation, and only visable on certain aircraft