The New BMW Climatic Testing Complex - The Energy and Environment Test Centre

2011-01-0167

04/12/2011

Event
SAE 2011 World Congress & Exhibition
Authors Abstract
Content
The Energy and Environment Test Centre (EVZ) is a complex comprising three large climatic wind tunnels, two smaller test chambers, nine soak rooms and support infrastructure. The capabilities of the wind tunnels and chambers are varied, and as a whole give BMW the ability to test at practically all conditions experienced by their vehicles, worldwide. The three wind tunnels have been designed for differing test capabilities, but share the same air circuit design, which has been optimized for energy consumption yet is compact for its large, 8.4 m₂, nozzle cross-section. The wind tunnel test section was designed to meet demanding aerodynamic specifications, including a limit on the axial static pressure gradient and low frequency static pressure fluctuations - design parameters previously reserved for larger aerodynamic or aero-acoustic wind tunnels. The aerodynamic design was achieved, in-part, by use of computational fluid dynamics and a purpose-built model wind tunnel. This paper provides a brief history of the project, a description of the facilities, an overview of the aerodynamic design and development of the climatic wind tunnels, general aerodynamic commissioning results and initial vehicle correlation results.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-01-0167
Pages
11
Citation
Bender, T., Hoff, P., and Kleemann, R., "The New BMW Climatic Testing Complex - The Energy and Environment Test Centre," SAE Technical Paper 2011-01-0167, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-01-0167.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Apr 12, 2011
Product Code
2011-01-0167
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English