Small Scale Subsonic Wind Tunnel
Capstone Design | 3D CAD → 3D Printing → Assembly → Testing






Why
Wind tunnels in Indonesia are typically large, fixed installations concentrated in a handful of institutions, making hands-on aerodynamic testing largely inaccessible for most engineering students, including myself.
What
Designed and built a compact, low-cost, open-circuit wind tunnel as an educational visualization tool for university students, portable enough for use in either a lab or classroom setting, making hands-on aerodynamics learning more accessible.
How
- Modeled the full geometry in Autodesk Inventor.
- Fabricated entirely by FDM 3D printing using PLA+ on a Bambu Lab X1, epoxy-bonded.
- Integrated a 65 W speed-controlled axial fan (9 inch) with a fog machine and copper smoke rake for visualization.
Autodesk InventorFDM 3D PrintingPLA+Flow Visualization
Result
- Working tunnel with steady, controllable airflow (7.4 m/s in the test section).
- Smoke visualization clearly resolved streamlines and flow separation over an airfoil.