Nika Poorshah

Home Wind Tunnel and Flow Visualization Research

Started Sept. 24, 2025

Abstract or project description

Nika's project focuses on designing, building, and testing a homemade wind tunnel to study aerodynamic behavior. After constructing the tunnel from polycarbonate sheets, PVC pipes, and a fan, the student aims to visualize airflow and analyze how different objects—such as toy cars and planes—interact with moving air. Her goal is to understand what makes certain shapes more aerodynamic than others by observing flow patterns like vortices and laminar regions using a smoke machine for visualization. She plans to model 3–5 test objects in CAD software (Onshape) and connect the observed results to fundamental aerodynamic concepts such as Reynolds number, viscosity, and boundary layer effects. Ultimately, this project will allow her to connect hands-on experimentation with theoretical aerodynamics and improve the performance of simple models based on her findings. She will then be preparing materials to be shared online (in research paper format), and submit to a showcase.