The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is the
home of the General Motors of Canada Automotive Centre of
Excellence (ACE), a university owned and operated facility that is
funded by the university and the provincial and federal governments
of Canada. As such, ACE is available to all automotive
manufacturers (OEM's), Tier 1 suppliers, university
researchers, or any other industry requiring the need for
independent research and development test capability.
A large climatic wind tunnel is the signature feature of ACE,
which also includes climatic chambers (one of which is a high
feature chamber), a climatic 4-post shaker test cell and a
hemi-anechoic chamber equipped with a multi-axis shaker table. Some
key design features of the climatic wind tunnel include a variable
nozzle geometry (from 7 m₂ to 13 m₂), a chassis dynamometer
inserted in an 11.7 meter turntable, a boundary layer control
system and circuit acoustic treatment for low background noise
levels. The climatic wind tunnel performance envelope covers wind
speeds up to 250 km/h, temperature range from -40°C to +60°C,
relative humidity from 5% to 95%, and the test section is equipped
for solar, rain and snow simulation.
This paper provides an introduction to the ACE facility and
presents the results of the aerodynamic commissioning program. The
climatic performance and flow quality test results of the wind
tunnel are given, as well as the climatic performance for each
chamber.
