tbone_tbl
New Member
Didn't realize this was my first post. I'm a long time lurker, been working on One Moment Air Racing for three years, and I'm developing my own Formula One Racer.
I'm working on a plenum to improve cooling airflow on a Lancair Legacy and it's proving to be a lot of (educated) guess work.
CFD isn't practical with all the stuff in the way so that leaves me with physical testing. In a sci-fi world I'd like to use something along lines of X-rays and blow some particles through the plenum/cowl and take a snap shot of the flow (like a real life CFD image). Now that's not really feasible but a practical alternative might be to make a transparent plenum and use a leaf blower to blow smoke through the inlet. As another step a fan can blow past the cowling exit area to simulate free stream airflow.
Has this been done before? I've seen cameras and smoke generators tucked inside the plenum for a test flight, but the results are always difficult to interpret.
I'm working on a plenum to improve cooling airflow on a Lancair Legacy and it's proving to be a lot of (educated) guess work.
CFD isn't practical with all the stuff in the way so that leaves me with physical testing. In a sci-fi world I'd like to use something along lines of X-rays and blow some particles through the plenum/cowl and take a snap shot of the flow (like a real life CFD image). Now that's not really feasible but a practical alternative might be to make a transparent plenum and use a leaf blower to blow smoke through the inlet. As another step a fan can blow past the cowling exit area to simulate free stream airflow.
Has this been done before? I've seen cameras and smoke generators tucked inside the plenum for a test flight, but the results are always difficult to interpret.
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