NO, 4 PIONEER WIND TUNNELS^ RANDERS-PEHRSON 1/ 



At Koutchino, not far from Moscow, Riabouchinsky erected, at 

 his own expense, a complete aerodynamic laboratory with several 

 buildings and an adequate staff. According to a suggestion by Prof. 

 N. E. Joukovsky, the laboratory was equipped with a cylindrical wind 

 tunnel, 14.50 meters long and 1.20 meters in diameter. Wind was 

 produced by a suction fan, driven by an electric motor. Great pains 

 were taken to render the wind uniform. After several experiments 

 that did not give satisfactory results one end of the tunnel was en- 

 closed in a cylindrical hood 2.2 meters in diameter and 3.5 meters long, 

 coaxial with the tunnel itself. This admitted the air in such a way 

 diat a sufficiently even current was obtained. The testing section, in 

 the middle of the tunnel, was provided with windows, from which the 

 action of models could be observed. 



A great variety of aeronautical and hydrodynamical subjects were 

 studied. Among the researches in the wind tunnel, the experiments 

 with propellers, particularly lifting propellers were important. A bul- 

 letin was published by the laboratory in six large issues, the last 

 in 1920.'° 



LUDWIG PRANDTL 



With the construction of the first wind tunnel at Gottingen we are 

 approaching modern times. This was the first return-flow tunnel, 

 built by Dr. Ludwig Prandtl for Motorluftschiffstudiengesellschaft 

 and completed in July 1908." 



This tunnel was superseded in 1 916- 17 by a much larger tunnel with 

 open jet and return flow, which is now called the Gottingen type. 



A. RATEAU 



With the aid of the Societe d'fitudes de Locomotion Aerienne, 

 A. Rateau built a wind tunnel in Paris in 1909. A 4-foot propeller 

 blew the air into a rectangular chamber, 1.60 meters in cross-section, 

 with an outlet contracting to a nozzle 70 centimeters square. The 

 current was straightened by passing between a number of wooden 



*'Institut aerodynamique de Koutchino. 8 pp., 17 pis., St. Petersbourg, 1905. 



Institute aerodynamique de Koutchino, 1904-1914. Moscow, 1914. 



Bulletin de I'lnstitut aerodynamique de Koutchino. Fasc. 1-6. Moscow, 

 1909- 1920. 

 " Motorluftschiffstudiengesellschaft m. b. h. Berlin, Jahrbuch 1907/08-1912/13. 



Zeitschr. Ver. deutsch. Ingenieure, vol. 53, pp. 1711-1719, Oct. 16, 1909. 



