Project Sierra

A desktop wind tunnel for visualising airflow around car models.

Role: Designer and builder
Context: Personal project
Year: 2022-23
Build: [Fan, materials, test-section size]

Model car in the Project Sierra wind tunnel with smoke streaming over it

The build

I designed and built a desktop wind tunnel to see how air moves around car models, using smoke to make the flow visible.

The fix

The first version shed vortices at the contraction, so the smoke broke up before it reached the model. Adding a flow-stabilisation section upstream straightened the flow and fixed it.