Test Technologies and Services
Introduction
Wind tunnel tests are performed in order to obtain high quality aerodynamic data for the aircraft designers; this requires some very advanced technologies, techniques and services working together. Very accurate instrumentation is installed both inside the model and within the wind tunnel systems. Special flow investigation techniques are used to help the designers understand what is happening to the air as it flows around the model; and specialist test rigs and equipment are available to perform more challenging experiments like store release tests or propulsion simulation.
This section of the site highlights some of the key technologies and services available to our customers.
Wind Tunnel Model Preparation
There is a wide variety of support systems available to our customers for many different types of wind tunnel model. The two main types of model support are for “full- span” models and “half-span” models; half-span models are supported on their side on the wind tunnel floor.
Instrumentation installed inside the model can be used to measure the aerodynamic loads exerted on the model, the model attitude relative to the airflow, the air pressure at what can be hundreds of pressure “tappings” over the model surface; and both air pressure and temperature within internal ducts.
To learn more about the technologies and services used to prepare our wind tunnel models, follow the links below or use the navigation panel on your left:
- Model Support
- Model Preparation and Reconfiguration
- Model Attitude Measurement
- Model Load Measurement
- Model Pressure Measurement
- Model Temperature Measurement
- Full Scale Reynolds Number Simulation
Tunnel Flow Parameters
The Transonic Wind Tunnel is used to generate a flow of air past an aircraft model installed in the test section. Two critical parameters which must be measured are Mach number and Reynolds number. To learn more, follow the link below or use the navigation panel on your left:
Flow Investigation Techniques
To help understand the air flow around a model, a mix of standard and advanced flow measurement techniques (currently under active development) are used – these include Oil Flow, PSP (Pressure Sensitive Paint), and PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry).
To learn more about the flow investigation techniques available, follow the link below or use the navigation panel on your left:
Specialist Test Rigs and Equipment
A wide range of rigs and equipment are available to support many different types of test including store release, propulsion simulation, noise measurement and dynamic loads measurement.
To learn more about some of the specialist test equipment available, follow the links below or use the navigation panel on your left:
Data and Photographic Services
A comprehensive suite of services are available for the acquisition of data, images and video.
To learn more about our data and photographic services, follow the links below or use the navigation panel on your left:
