Easy wind tunnel testing question

[BrianGar]

My father always says there's no such thing as a stupid question if you dont know the answer, but today, Im feeling stupid regardless asking this question. You may have gathered I dont know much on this subject but do wonder about it.

If I have a scale model of a car, lets say 10 times smaller for arguments sake. I fix that into a wind tunnel with appropriate sensors attached.

If I want to test what drag/downforce/etc the car has at 100mph, what should my wind tunnel speed be?

10mph, 100mph, or 1000mph? I do realize 1000mph is complete madness to even type that but I just listed it as an example.

Or, do I just pick any speed and some way scale the forces then to suit real world speeds/values.

Go easy on me now...this isn't my day job...(lucky for all)

Thanks

Brian,

 

[rb1957]

1/10th scale model = 1/10th scale speeds ... google Reynolds number, which is characteristic of drag, includes the ratio l/V

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

 

[rb1957]

mind you there are many things that don't scale, and you have to be careful about the airflow affects of the raod surface.

research (the somewhat obvious) car aerodynamics testing, car model testing, ...

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

 

[BrianGar]

Ok, thanks for the info, it will give me enough to work on.

Im not doing anything with this, I just want to have a basic understanding,

Brian,

 

[imcjoek]

Further terms of interest for your googling pleasure might be "dimensional analysis" and "kinematic/dynamic similarity".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similitude_(model)

 

[BrianGar]

Again, thanks. Reading will pass some airline time coming up...

Brian,