Building a Wind Tunnel to Test Micro Aerial Vehicles

When PhD candidate Jason Roadman and his research group needed a working wind tunnel to test the micro aerial vehicles (MAV) he’d been helping to engineer, he made one. He refurbished a defunct, stripped down wind tunnel from mechanical engineering and developed the computer programs that reconfigured it into an operational test facility.

Roadman is pursuing a PhD as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow while finishing a master’s degree in science.

Roadman, who is working with Professor Kamran Mohseni on the MAV project, is designing a gust wind tunnel that accurately recreates the atmospheric turbulence that MAVs would experience when flying outside, but in a controlled and repeatable manner. He will then make recommendations for constructing another larger wind tunnel to test larger unmanned vehicles, wind turbines, and other aerodynamic characterization. 

“We’re trying to develop MAVs that are as stable and as reliable as possible and with a lot of payload capacity,” said Roadman.  

Like a flock of birds, swarms of these small vehicles can fly into a variety of environments to cooperatively collect and transmit scientific data. Three-dimensional monitoring of wildfires, tornados, hurricanes, and toxic plumes are accomplished more easily and safely than using piloted planes. With a six-inch wingspan, MAVs are more susceptible to turbulence and gusty air disturbances than larger unmanned vehicles.

“In a wind tunnel we can test a vehicle in a controlled manner rather than taking it outside and tossing it into the air, which is what we’re doing now,” he said. “If you can fly them in a controlled engineering fashion in the tunnel, you can get a lot more data.”

Roadman is the recipient of the H. Joseph Smead Graduate Fellowship in aerospace engineering. He also received the American Institute of Aeronautics Foundation John Leland Atwood Graduate Award.

His experience developing a wind tunnel is propelling him toward a possible career in the wind turbine industry, since the same basic principles of aircraft apply to a wind turbine. Down the road he might teach after working in industry.

“The research I’ve been involved in has allowed me to develop critical thinking skills that will help me work in projects from start to finish,” said Roadman. “I feel much more prepared for a career with more tools in my toolbox.”

Kristian Hahn Microgravity Flight Team Danielle Griego Energy- Efficient Buildings Rob Mickle Google Challenge Jay Price Business Plan Competition Jason Roadman Micro-Air Vehicles Abby Watrous Renewable energy in China