Wind tunnel testing is an integral part of fields such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and construction engineering to test and optimize designs by simulating real-world flight or flow conditions. In these trials, the electric lift plays an important role in precisely moving and positioning the model, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the data. However, the application of electric lifts in wind tunnel testing also faces some challenges and limitations.
Advantage: Precise Control: Electric lifts provide precise position control, which is essential for data acquisition in wind tunnel testing.
High repeatability: The electric lift ensures that the settings are accurately reproduced for each test, thus improving the repeatability of the test.
Easy to operate: Compared with manual lifting, the electric lift can be controlled by a computer program, which greatly reduces the burden on the operator.
Challenge: Boundary effects: Boundary effects or boundary disturbances in wind tunnel testing can affect the accuracy of test results.
Bracket interference: The model needs to be supported in the air flow with a bracket, and the presence of the bracket may produce interference with the flow field of the model.
Similarity criterion is difficult to satisfy: It is difficult for wind tunnel tests to fully satisfy all similarity criteria, especially the matching problem of Reynolds numbers.
Despite the challenges, the use of electric lifts in wind tunnel testing is irreplaceable. Future research is likely to focus on techniques to reduce boundary effects and scaffold interferences, as well as to improve Reynolds number matching. Through these technological advancements, electric lifts will continue to provide greater accuracy and efficiency for wind tunnel testing.
Editor: Wu Jiahui.