Aiming to improve the knowledge on both dynamic and static  stall of airfoils for wind turbine applications, a new  experimental facility (CCB6 wind tunnel) specifically devoted to this application has been developed. The design  goals of this project have been to build up a low cost, low speed wind tunnel which can be easily adapted to a wide  range of experimental specifications, whose test chamber, and even the whole geometry, can be modified at low  cost. In this paper the main features of this new facility as well as the instrumentation involved are described.  Besides, results of some preliminary tests concerning dynamic stall conducted on bodies with elliptical shape, when  subjected to an oscillatory pitching motion, are presented

Meseguer Ruiz, José

Ruotolo, Andrea

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A Low Cost, Low Speed Wind Tunnel For Dynamic Stall Measurement

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 1
A Low Cost, Low Speed Wind Tunnel For Dynamic Stall Measurement 
A. Ruótolo, J. Meseguer 
IDR/UPM 
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Aeronáuticos 
 Universidad Politécnica de Madrid 
e-mail: andrea.ruotolo@upm.es 
phone:+34 91 336 6353 
fax: +34 91 336 6363 
 
Summary 
 
Aiming to improve the knowledge on both dynamic and static stall of airfoils for wind turbine applications, a new 
experimental facility (CCB6 wind tunnel) specifically devoted to this application has been developed. The design 
goals of this project have been to build up a low cost, low speed wind tunnel which can be easily adapted to a wide 
range of experimental specifications, whose test chamber, and even the whole geometry, can be modified at low 
cost. In this paper the main features of this new facility as well as the instrumentation involved are described. 
Besides, results of some preliminary tests concerning dynamic stall conducted on bodies with elliptical shape, when 
subjected to an oscillatory pitching motion, are presented. 
 
1. Introduction 
 
Typically the lifetime of wind turbine components is less than the standard 20-30 year design lifetime. These 
components, such as blades, hub and generators, are subjected to dynamic loads far in excess of their design 
loads. A primary source of these loads comes from the unsteady aerodynamic environment where wind turbines 
operate most of their life time.  
Airfoil sections of wind turbine blades are subjected to large time dependent variations in angle of attack, the forces 
varying both in time and in space because of wind turbulence and shear, as well as blade oscillations, control 
inputs, and skewed flow.  All these perturbations can lead to dynamic stall, an unsteady, non linear aerodynamic 
phenomenon also appearing in many other technical fields where lifting surfaces can reach angles of incidence far 
beyond the static stall angle. The discussion and reviews on this phenomenon have been well documented [1-4]. 
Traditionally, different approaches, such as experimentations [5-7], numerical simulations [8,9], and semi-empirical 
methods [10-14], have been widely employed to investigate this phenomenon. 
In spite of the large amount of effort devoted to airfoil dynamic stall, this phenomenon is not completely understood. 
In addition, although many theoretical and numerical studies have been devoted to oscillating aerodynamic profiles, 
the availability of experimental results concerning the dynamic stall of airfoils for wind energy applications is still 
scarce. 
Having in mind all the above limitations and drawbacks, the development of the CCB6 wind tunnel has been 
accomplished. Design specifications have been considered in order to develop a low cost, low speed wind tunnel 
with the appropriate instrumentation for dynamic stall tests. It must be pointed out that although this wind tunnel has 
been tailored to the volume constraints existing at IDR laboratories, because on its modular design it can be easily 
adapted to other rather different geometrical circumstances. 
The facility is an open circuit wind tunnel in which a Reynolds number up to 106 can be achieved with an airfoil 
chord of 0.5 m. The wind tunnel geometry and performance, as well as its instrumentation are described, and some 
preliminary results are shown. 
 
2. Methods 
 
2.1. CCB6 facility 
 
The CCB6 wind tunnel is an open circuit (Eiffel type) wind tunnel, 12 m in length and 3.3 m in height, which is place 
inside one of the laboratories of the IDR/UPM building of Montegancedo´s Campus. The room where this wind 
tunnel is mounted is specifically devoted to this facility, the room´s dimensions being 14.6 m in length, 5.2 m wide 
and 3.5 m height. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Sketch of the CCB6 wind tunnel with main components. 
 
The support structure of the wind tunnel consists of 15 frames made of commercial steel with 40x40 mm square 
shaped that are anchored on the ground. The structure has been designed to withstand the static loads and 
vibrations.  
The facility, as sketched in Figure 1, is arranged according to the traditional sequence of contraction, test chamber, 
diffuser and fans, the flow returning to the intake section through the room where the wind tunnel is located.  
The contraction ratio is 4:1, and it is almost two-dimensional, as floor and ceiling are almost parallel; turbulence 
intensity at the test chamber is controlled through interchangeable mesh screens placed at the wind tunnel intake. 
Besides, although they are not yet implemented, some devices for gust generation, like turning vanes at the 
entrance of the test chamber, are foreseen. 
The test chamber is closed, with  a cross section of 0.54 m wide and 2.5 m height, the total length being  3.6 m. The 
models to be tested span between the lateral walls of the test chamber, all the stimuli devices as well as 
measurement instrumentation being located outside the test chamber. In normal operation the airfoil to be tested is 
anchored to a circular bar which can be rotated and vertically displaced as required. Under normal circumstances, 
to cover the normal operation range of a rotor blade, the angle of attack of a blade section can vary from   20o 
to   30o. 
For test specimens a normalized airfoil chord of 0.5 is selected, which assures a blockage of the test section less 
than 12% for angles of attack up to  = 30º. 
The wind tunnel is equipped with six 7.5 kW fans, each of 0.9 m in diameter, arranged in two columns with three 
fans in each. Air velocity in the test section can be selected by controlling the fans frequency. 
Floor and ceiling of the test section are equipped with 63 pressure taps each; there is also a pressure rake 
downstream of test section consisting of total pressure probes and static tubes. The distribution of the total pressure 
tubes in the rake is not uniform, the tube spacing being denser at the middle of the rake.  
 
2.2. Experimental setup 
 
Airfoil test specimens are mounted at 1.25 m from the tunnel floor and at 2 m from the test chamber inlet. Airfoils 
can be equipped with up to 63 pressure taps made of brass tube of 1 mm inner diameter located along the 
centreline.  
The models are manufactured with Necuron 400, which is a low density easy machining plastic material; they are 
machined in two pieces (an upper and a lower shell) to facilitate instrumentation. To make pressure taps, holes are 
drilled on the airfoil surface and brass tubes are fitted to the holes and mounted flush with the surface. Flexible 
plastic tubes are connected at the ends of the brass tubes; the plastic tubes leave the airfoil through a hollow 
suspension axis, which is supported on by two bearings.  
Dynamic stall has been experimentally studied mainly by using oscillating two dimensional aerofoils in wind tunnel 
tests. Most of the available results are dealing with airfoils oscillating in pitch (). However, since the stall problem is 
highly non-linear the effect of other pertubations, either isolated or together, is important for reaching a better 
understanding of the phenomenon [15]. Because of these requirements, the experimental system developed at 
Fan 
Diffuser 
Test 
section
Contraction 
 3
IDR/UPM allows to perform static studies as well as dynamic ones, considering plunging and pitching motions, 
constant angular rate or ramp-type motion and time varying incident velocity or horizontal gusts. Other parameters 
involved, such as Reynolds number, and for each one of the imposed perturbation (rotation and translation) the 
mean value, reduced frequency, and amplitude, can be selected. 
 
According to the above description, the standard instrumentation is 
 Pressure taps on the upper and lower surfaces of airfoils, to measure the static pressure distribution, 
usually placed at the mid span plane. 
 Pressure taps at the floor and ceiling of the test section to measure the static pressure distribution along the 
test chamber. 
 A wake rake, downstream of the airfoil equipped with total and static pressure tubes to measure the vertical 
pressure distributions. 
 Besides the mechanism responsible of airfoil motion provides information on vertical airfoil displacement 
and velocity as well as angle of attack and angular velocity. Other parameters under control are the electric 
AC frequency supplied to the fans as well as additional flow properties (air temperature and moisture and 
atmospheric pressure). 
 There are also two Pitot tubes to measure static and total pressure at different locations in the test section, 
which are used to measure velocity, turbulence level and the stability of the flow at the working section. 
One of the goals of the design is to obtain redundant results. In this way pressure distributions on the airfoils can be 
used to calculate the airfoil force coefficients, mainly lift and pitching moment coefficients, as well as the pressure 
drag coefficient (although this last force coefficient is only a reasonable approximation to total drag when the flow is 
separated). 
The floor and ceiling longitudinal pressure distributions are used to calculate the lift coefficient by using the Betz 
method, whereas the total drag coefficient results from the wake rake total and static pressure distributions (these 
calculations are valid only when the airfoil flow is attached [16]).  
 In addition, wind tunnel instrumentation includes hot wire and laser Doppler anemometry (also PIV 
anemometry is foreseen).  
 
2.3. Data acquisition system 
 
The data acquisition system, as shown in Figure 2, is two ZOC33 pressure-scanning modules from            
Scanivalve Corp. which record the pressure signals. A commercial data acquisition card from National Instruments 
Corp is used for the rest of the electrical signals. 
The ZOC33 pressure scanning module consists of an electronic pressure scanner that accepts 64 pneumatic inputs 
which are directed to 64 silicon pressure sensors at a maximum 600 Hz sampling rate. Extensive experiments were 
conducted to ensure that the frequency response of the pressure-measuring system was kept well above the 
highest frequency to be measured. Each transducer data is collected via a terminal board and transformed to the 
computer through a 12-bit Analog-Digital (A/D) board. Raw data were then digitally filtered using a low-pass filtering 
routine. During the filtering process, cut off and transition frequencies were varied until the deviation between the 
original and the filtered data was minimum. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2. Block diagram of the pressure measurements system. 
A/D Converter 
RADBASE 3200 + 
A/D 3200 + RDS 
 
 
Scanivalve ZOC 33 
64 sensors 
128 channels 
65 PSI Control
1... 63 Channels
64 Channel
Calibration Channel
Reference Channel
 
PC 
RPM 1000 
(Power Supply) 
 
MSCP 
65 PSI24 V DC
Pressure 
Channels 
Static Pressure Channel 
Stagnation Pressure Channel 
USB
 4
 
For controlling the Scanivalve, each module is equipped with a calibration valve, a high speed (50 kHz) multiplexer 
and an instrumentation amplifier (the MSCP modulus).  
The calibration valve can be operated in four different modes that are operate, calibrate, purge and leak test. 
Applying the appropriate pneumatic control activates these modes. As a result the pressure modules can be 
calibrated/ checked during a measurement session. 
As the silicon pressure sensors are known to be temperature dependent, the modules are placed inside thermal 
control units (TCU) which are designed to provide a constant temperature environment for the pressure scanners 
while being equipped with electrical and pneumatic connections, thus functioning as an intermediate between the 
ZOC and the rest of the system. 
 
3. Results  
 
Some preliminary tests with bodies having elliptical shape have been performed; the bodies being subjected to 
steady and an oscillatory pitching motion. 
All measurements series contained measurements from airfoil pressure. Two different models have been used, 
having different relative thickness , both are elliptical in shape, one of them with =0.21 and the second with =0.49 
at Re = 8×105. 
Two different types of test have been made: 
o Steady test at  of ±24º, ±36º and ±46º.  
o Dynamic measurement in pitching movement around the symmetry axis with an amplitude of 
oscillation of ±24º, ±36º and ±46º at 2.4 Hz. 
 
Figure 3 shows the pressure tap location of both models in the centre region along the chord.  
 
Figure 3. Pressure taps (dots) location of the different airfoil models (line) in the centre region along the chord. 
 
The steady (blue dots) and dynamic (red line) results at different pressure tap locations along the =0.21 chord 
model are shown in Figures 4 to 6. Experimental results correspond to pressure taps located at x/c= 0.46, 0.25 and 
0.06 respectively. These results are the average values of Nsamples =1800 (number of samples) at a sampling rate of  
200Hz.  
From the static results, in the case  is -24º, the airfoil has a suction peak at x/c= 0.46. For higher x/c ratios, cp 
becomes uniform due to the fact that the airfoil is under stall. 
Asdecreases, specifically when the angle of attack is -36º and -46º, the airfoil stalls and separation removes the 
suction peak and the suction side pressure becomes nearly uniform.  
Comparing the static and dynamic results at x/c= 0.46, there exists a delay of the stagnation point appearing. For 
x/c= 0.25 and 0.06 there is no stagnation point at any  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
=0.21 =0.49 
 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 4. Pressure coefficient, cp, versus angle of attack , measured at the pressure tap located at x/c= 0.46 under 
steady test conditions (blue dots) at  ±24º, ±36º and ±46º and dynamic oscillation (red line) with ±46º amplitude. 
Results correspond to the airfoil with =0.21. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 5. Pressure coefficient, cp, versus angle of attack  , measured at the pressure tap located at x/c= 0.25 under 
steady test conditions (blue dots) at ±24º, ±36º and ±46º and dynamic oscillation (red line) with ±46º amplitude. 
Results correspond to the airfoil with =0.21. 
 
 
 
[º]
-cp [ ]
Nsample 
[º]
-cp [ ]
Nsample 
 6
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 6. Pressure coefficient, cp, versus angle of attack  , measured at the pressure tap located at x/c= 0.06 under 
steady test conditions (blue dots) at  ±24º, ±36º and ±46º and dynamic oscillation (red line) with ±46º amplitude. 
Results correspond to the airfoil with =0.21. 
 
Figure 7 shows the steady (blue dots) and dynamic (red line) results that correspond to the pressure tap located at 
x/c= 0.46 along the =0.49 chord model.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 7. Pressure coefficient, cp, versus angle of attack  , measured at the pressure tap located at x/c= 0.46 under 
steady test conditions (blue dots) at ±24º, ±36º and ±46º and dynamic oscillation (red line) with ±46º amplitude. 
Results correspond to the airfoil with =0.49. 
 
 
[º]
-cp [ ]
Nsample 
[º]
-cp [ ]
Nsample 
 7
As in the case of model =0.21, for the different amplitudes it can be observed that the stagnation zone is always 
located in the first 5% of the chord, and the delay in the appearing of the stagnation point. 
 
 
4. Conclusions 
 
A low cost, low speed two-dimensional testing facility was designed to fulfill the requirements of dynamic stall 
experimentation. The experimental system developed at IDR/UPM allows to perform static studies as well as 
dynamic ones, considering plunging and pitching motions, constant angular rate or ramp-type motion and time 
varying incident velocity or horizontal gusts. Other parameters involved, such as Reynolds number, and for each 
one of the imposed perturbation (rotation and translation) the mean value, reduced frequency, and amplitude, can 
be selected. 
 
Preliminary steady and dynamic tests were carried out to study the response of the measurement and acquisition 
system. Measurements of the pressure distribution around two different models, both elliptical in shape, having 
different relative thickness , have been made. The steady and dynamic (oscillatory pitching motion) results showed 
that the developed wind tunnel is in agreement with imposed requirements. 
 
 
References 
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2. Carr LW, Chandrasekhara, MS. Compressibility Effects on Dynamic Stall. Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 1996; 523-573. 
3. Ekaterinaris JA, Platzer MF. Computational Prediction of Airfoil Dynamic Stall. Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 1997; 759-
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4. McCroskey WJ, McAlister KW, Carr LW, Pucci SL, Lambert O, Indergrand RF. Dynamic Stall on Advanced 
Airfoil Sections. J.Am. Helicopter Soc. 1981; 40-50. 
5. McAlister KW, Carr LW, McCroskey WJ. Dynamic Stall Experiments on the NACA 0012 Airfoil. NASA, 
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Dimensional Dynamic Stall Using Computational Fluid Dynamics. AIAA J. 2005; 1023-1033. 
10. Beddoes TS. Onset of Leading Edge Separation Effects Under Dynamic Conditions and Low Mach Number. 
34th Annual National Forum of the American Helicopter Society 1978. 
11. Beddoes TS. Practical Computational of Unsteady Lift. Vertica 1984; 55-71. 
12. Leishman JG, Beddoes TS. A Semi-Empirical Model for Dynamic Stall. J. Am. Helicopter Soc. 1989; 3-17. 
13. Beddoes TS. A Third Generation Model for Unsteady Aerodynamic and Dynamic Stall. Westland Helicopter 
Limited 1993. Report No. RP-908. 
14. Sheng W, Galbraith RA McD, Coton FN. A New Stall-Onset Criterion for Low Speed Dynamic-Stall. ASME J. 
Sol. Energy Eng. 2006; 461-471. 
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85-132.  
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Energy Conference 2008. 


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A Low Cost, Low Speed Wind Tunnel For Dynamic Stall Measurement

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