"How Far Do Experiments on Models Represent Experiments on Full Sized Machines?" : The Examination and Dispute on the Reliability of the Wind Tunnels in Britain, 1909-1917

• HASHIMOTO Takehiko

  Department of History and Philosophy of Science, the University of Tokyo

抄録

This paper discusses a historical process in which early aeronautical engineers examined the reliability of data from wind tunnels and their applicability to the prediction of the performance of full-scale aircraft. It specifically follows the case in 1910s Britain before and during the First World War. In the early 1910s, engineers at the National Physical Laboratory(NPL)constructed wind tunnels and checked their operability as scientific instruments. Based on this preliminary examination, wind tunnels were employed in experimental research on airplane stability. After the eruption of the war, however, the discrepancy became recognized between the predicted performance of airplanes designed on the basis of data from the NPL and their real performance in flight. This recognition led to the investigation of its possible sources and causes by representatives from the NPL as well from the Royal Aircraft Factory, where flight tests as well as wind tunnel experiments were actively conducted. Their investigative activity was controversial and confrontational, as is visible in the minutes and reports of the committee organized for this purpose. This paper traces the detailed process of this search for the source or cause of the discrepancies, which concluded with only a partial success in its investigation.

収録刊行物

• Historia scientiarum. Second series : international journal of the History of Science Society of Japan

  Historia scientiarum. Second series : international journal of the History of Science Society of Japan 20 (2), 96-122, 2010-12-30

  日本科学史学会

キーワード

• wind tunnel
• model experiment
• aerodynamics
• aeronautics
• scale effect
• Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
• National Physical Laboratory
• Royal Aircraft Factory

詳細情報

• CRID: 1572824501878083584
• NII論文ID: 110008513377
• NII書誌ID: AA11081495
• ISSN: 02854821
• 本文言語コード: en
• データソース種別:
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