National Wind Tunnel Facility Conference. Birmingham, 25th – 26th May 2023
About the conference
The National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) conference aims to bring together the industrial and academic wind tunnel community to:
- Showcase the ‘art of the possible’ and the research opportunities presented by NWTF’s unique range of facilities.
- Highlight the ongoing, cutting-edge, industry and academic research facilitated by the NWTF.
- Create a networking opportunity for industry and academic researchers across all sectors.
- Share knowledge, spark new ideas and give an opportunity for industry to influence the future development of the NWTF portfolio.
Visit the conference website here.
Conference Venue
The Exchange is a stunning building that has recently and carefully been restored to its former glory. The venue is perfectly located in the centre of the city with rooms and spaces that are both modern and flexible in their design and layout.
As an iconic Birmingham landmark, The Exchange was once home to the Municipal Bank. Now, it’s a hub for creativity, collaboration and celebration. Built in 1933, the pillared aspect of this impressive building sits opposite Centenary Square and is close to Birmingham’s best bars, restaurants and shops.
Retaining many of its unique period features, The Exchange features many different rooms, giving you the flexibility to transition from important meetings and breakout discussions to press announcements, ceremonies, receptions and formal dining. The Exchange boasts an enviable city-centre location. It’s easily accessible from the city’s main transport links, being just a 10-minute walk from Birmingham New Street and 20-minute drive from Birmingham Airport.
Paper Submission
Registration is now closed.
Key Dates
Registration is now closed.
Programme
Day 1:
| Time | Session | Presenter/Topic |
| 09:30-10:30 | Conference Registration & Coffee Reception | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 10:30-10:35 | Welcome | Mike Jesson – Birmingham |
| 10.35-10.50 | About the NWTF | Jonathan Morrison – Imperial |
| 10:50-12:00 | Session 1 Research Capabilities at NWTFs – Art of the Possible. (Chair: Chetan Jagadeesh) 6 x 10 minute presentations with 2 minutes for questions and changeover. | Renan Soares – Southampton On the Land, Air and Sea – Recent Applied Aerodynamics Experiments the University of Southampton facilities Mahdi Azarpeyvand – Bristol Experimental Aeroacoustic Research at Bristol David Soper – Birmingham Unlocking future freight transport capability through novel moving model vehicle aerodynamics research David Birch – Surrey How low can you go? The EnFlo Environmental Wind Tunnel and its measurement challenges Magnus Gregory – Southampton Underwater PIV benchmark at the University of Southampton Boldrewood Towing Tank David Angland – Southampton University of Southampton anechoic wind tunnel –capabilities, current work and future plans |
| 12:00-13:00 | Lunch | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 13:00-14:00 | Session 2 Snapshot of Research (Chair: Christina Vanderwell) 5 x10 minute presentations with 2 minutes for questions and changeover | Richard Green – Glasgow Performance of non-conventional aircraft tail configurations Kwing-So Choi – Nottingham Leading-edge flow separation control using DBD plasma: Effect of the Reynolds number Olivier Cadot – Liverpool An experimental sensitivity analysis of the aerodynamics of a simplified ground vehicle to the body clearance, yaw and pitch Isabella Fumerola – Imperial The ‘Big and Slow’ surface wave experiment for skin friction drag reduction Matteo Carpenteri – Surrey Non-neutral flows: simulating the full range of atmospheric conditions in the EnFlo Environmental Wind Tunnel |
| 14:00-14:30 | Coffee Break | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 14:30-15:30 | Session 3 Industry Presentations (Chair: Ian Smith) 5 x 10 minute presentations with 2 minutes for questions and changeover | Edward Jinks Siemens Acoustic Wind Tunnel Testing Roger Gardner – UK ARC Nicolas Oettle – JLR Wind tunnel needs from the perspective of an automotive manufacturer David Roberts – ARA Stephen Lawson – MBDA |
| 15:30-16:00 | Coffee Break | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 16:00-16:45 | Key Speaker (Intro: Paul White) | Steve Rowley – QinetiQ Exploitation pathways – joining the dots between research and industry |
| 16:45-17:00 | Close | Mike Jesson |
| 17:00-18:00 | NWTF Management Board Meeting | Management Board Members |
| 18:00-18:30 | Drinks Reception | |
| 18:30 – 20:00 | Conference Dinner (Assembly Room) |
Day 2:
| Time | Session | Presenter (Topic) |
| 08:30-09:30 | Conference Registration | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 09:30-09:40 | Welcome | Mike Jesson – Birmingham |
| 09:40-10:40 | Session 4 Snapshot of High Speed Research (Chair: David Roberts) 5 x 10 minute presentations with 2 minute questions and change over | Mark Quinn – Manchester Intake unstart testing in the University of Manchester HSST Kshitij Sabnis – Cambridge Transonic aerodynamics of aircraft engine nacelles in off-design conditions Matthew McGilvray – Oxford 1. Testing of aeroheating during satellite demise in the Oxford T6 Stalker Tunnel 2. Combined shock speed and spectral radiance probe for use in a hypervelocity shock tube Luke Doherty – Oxford 1. Internal heat transfer measurements on hollow bodies in rarefied flow 2. Effects of macro-roughness on the supersonic lateral separation of spheres in the Oxford High Density Tunnel 3. Development and application of Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) for hypersonic free-flight. Christopher Wheeler – Oxford Surface pressure measurements on a free-flying cone at Mach 7 using pressure sensitive paint |
| 10:40-11:10 | Coffee Break | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 11:10-12:00 | Key Speaker (Intro: Matthew McGilvray) | Johan Steelant – ESA Multipurpose and Future of Wind Tunnels |
| 12:00-13:00 | Lunch | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 13:00-13:30 | Key Speaker (Intro: Kwing-So Choi) | Gary Page – Loughborough NWTF Experimental Database |
| 13:30-14:00 | Session 5 NWTF Subgroup Activities (Chair: Richard Green) 5 minutes per presenter | Ashley Evans – Boeing Novel Instrumentation Subgroup – Industry requirements Paul White – Airbus Tunnel Managers Forum Mahdi Azarpeyvand – Bristol NWTF Group Projects Richard Green – Glasgow Training Workshops Subgroup Raul Vazquez-Diaz – Rolls Royce TRL5+ Wind Tunnels |
| 14:00-14:30 | Coffee Break | Poster Session – Current & New Facilities |
| 14:30-15:30 | Panel Session Vision for the NWTF 5 minute presentation from panellists followed by audience Q&A | Steve Rowley – QinetiQ – Host Joanthan Morrison – Imperial Raul Vazquez-Diaz – Rolls Royce Stephen Lawson – MBDA Stuart Gates – ATI Mike Simpson – EPSRC |
| 15:30-15:40 | Close | Jonathan Morrison |
