"Vozduhoduvka" K.E.Tsiolkovsky Aerodynamic Tube

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In the late 1800s, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky spearheaded a project to design an enormous airship with a metallic structure capable of carrying 200 passengers. To bring this vision to life, he needed to understand the aerodynamic drag of various body configurations. A groundbreaking idea struck him: using artificial airflow to study drag patterns. Tsiolkovsky brought this concept to fruition by designing and building in 1896 an apparatus that resembled a large-scale winnower. The device stood approximately 1.5 meters tall and 0.45 meters wide, featuring a massive blower wheel with a diameter of 1 meter and 12 precision-cut blades. This innovative setup is now referred to as a honeycomb in modern wind tunnels. Essentially, Tsiolkovsky's apparatus functioned as an open-circuit wind tunnel with an open-jet test section and a nozzle housing a honeycomb insert. At its maximum weight of 16 pounds, the device allowed for at least 11 seconds of observation time. According to Tsiolkovsky's calculations, the maximum airflow speed achievable under these conditions was approximately 4.3 meters per second. This pioneering work laid the groundwork for future advancements in aerodynamics.