A Study on the Design of Free-Fall Simulator using concept of Vertical Wind Tunnel

수직형 풍동을 응용한 고공강하 시뮬레이터의 설계에 대한 연구

In this study, the design of Free-Fall Simulator was carried out using concept of vertical wind tunnel. Free-Fall Simulator is not an experimental equipment but a training equipment. Therefore Free-Fall Simulator needs a large training section compared with test section of wind tunnel and has critical limit of height. These limits bring about the difficulty of design for a return passage. Due to small area ratio, the downstream flow of training section with high speed is not decelerated adequately to the fan section. High-speed flow leads to great losses in the small area ratio diffuser and corner. So design of diffusers and corners located between training section and fan section has a great effect on the Free-Fall Simulator performance. This study used an estimation method of subsonic wind tunnel performance. It considered each section of Free-Fall Simulator as an independent section. Therefore loss of one section didn't affect loss of other sections. Because losses of corner with vane and $1^{st}$ diffuser are most parts of overall Free-Fall Simulator, this study focused on the design of these sections.