Facilities - UTD Wind | The University of Texas at Dallas

Boundary Layer & Subsonic Wind Tunnel (BLAST)

The Boundary Layer and Subsonic wind Tunnel (BLAST) was commissioned in July 2018. This facility consists of two test sections, one for reproducing high Reynolds number, boundary layer flows and a second test section for subsonic aeronautical applications. The first test section 30 m x 2.8 m x 2.1 m (L x W x H) enables a maximum velocity of 34 m/s with a minimum turbulence level of 0.1%. The side walls and ceiling are made of optical glass to provide optical access for flow visualizations or any laser-based measurement technique. The subsonic test section 10 m x 2.1 m x 2.1 m (L x W x H) achieves a larger maximum velocity of 50 m/s.

BLAST Instrumentation

Wind tunnel instrumentation includes stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), multi-component hot-wire anemometry, velocity measurements with multi-hole pressure probes, pressure measurements with pressure scanners and force measurements with multi-component balances.

PIV measurement of wind velocity for turbine models from Technical University of Munich

UTD Mobile LiDAR Station

This facility allows rapid deployment of two scanning Doppler wind LiDARs for probing the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL), wind turbine wakes, and other environmental flows. The deployment of the wind LiDARs is performed through a truck and trailer devoted and equipped to perform field measurements.

LiDAR Instrumentation

A WindCube 200S LiDAR by Leosphere and a Streamline LiDAR by Halo Photonics are connected to a workstation, which allows for remote control, monitoring, programming, and setup of the wind LiDARs. The remote-control unit includes a field computer with external hard-drive, modem for 4G network connection with two different providers, web-switch for power control of the unit itself and the two LiDARs, one datalogger CR3000 by Campbell scientific for data acquisition from atmospheric instruments, fans for temperature control of the unit, UPS and surge switch to prevent power shocks on the unit and LiDARs. Instrumentation to characterize atmospheric conditions is also available, such as sonic anemometers CSAT3 by Campbell Scientific, thermistors, one radiometer, and one LiCOR.