AERODYNAMIC TESTING OF ROAD VEHICLES - OPEN THROAT WIND TUNNEL ADJUSTMENT J2071_199406

As a simulation of road driving, wind tunnel testing of full-size vehicles produces certain errors in the aerodynamic forces, aerodynamic moments, and surface pressures. The magnitude of these errors, in general, depends on the following:

The SAE Standards Committee, Open Throat Wind Tunnel Adjustments had as a goal to document the knowledge of the influence of model interference on wind tunnel test results for automotive open jet wind tunnels. This document contains the following information related to this subject:

An initial goal of the committee, to recommend a well proven correction procedure for automotive open jet wind tunnels based on blockage theory (Figure 1), could not be established at this time. The reason is that, besides blockage, other factors, such as test section geometry, are at least as influential as pure blockage. As these influential parameters are wind tunnel specific, a general valid adjustment procedure is presently not available.