Comparison Tests Between Major European and North American Automotive Wind Tunnels

830301

02/01/1983

Event
SAE International Congress and Exposition
Authors Abstract
Content
The results of comparative aerodynamic force measurements on a full-scale notchback-type vehicle, performed between 6 European companies operating full-scale automotive wind tunnels, were published in the SAE Paper 800140. Correlation tests with the same vehicle have been extended to 2 further European and 3 North American wind tunnels. First the geometry, the design and the flow data of the different wind tunnels is compared. The facilities compared include wind tunnels with open-test-sections, closed-test-sections and one tunnel with slotted side walls. The comparison of results, especially for drag coefficients, show that the correlation between the differently designed wind tunnels is reasonable. Problems of blockage correction are briefly discussed. The comparison tests furthermore revealed that careful design of the wheel pads and blockage corrections for lift seem to be very influential in achieving reasonable lift correlations. Six-component measurements show similar problems. Suggestions for improving correlations are presented.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/830301
Pages
20
Citation
Buchheim, R., Unger, R., Jousserandot, P., Mercker, E. et al., "Comparison Tests Between Major European and North American Automotive Wind Tunnels," SAE Technical Paper 830301, 1983, https://doi.org/10.4271/830301.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Feb 1, 1983
Product Code
830301
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English