Computer analysis of flow perturbations generated by placement of choke bumps in a wind tunnel

Abstract

An inviscid analytical study was conducted to determine the upstream flow perturbations caused by placing choke bumps in a wind tunnel. A computer program based on the stream-tube curvature method was used to calculate the resulting flow fields for a nominal free-stream Mach number range of 0.6 to 0.9. The choke bump geometry was also varied to investigate the effect of bump shape on the disturbance produced. Results from the study indicate that a region of significant variation from the free-stream conditions exists upstream of the throat of the tunnel. The extent of the disturbance region was, as a rule, dependent on Mach number and the geometry of the choke bump. In general, the upstream disturbance distance decreased for increasing nominal free-stream Mach number and for decreasing length-to-height ratio of the bump. A polynomial-curve choke bump usually produced less of a disturbance than did a circular-arc bump and going to an axisymmetric configuration (modeling choke bumps on all the tunnel walls) generally resulted in a lower disturbance than with the corresponding two dimensional case