Our Facilities

The National Wind Tunnel Facilities cover low speed, transonic, supersonic and hypersonic speeds across all sectors including Aerospace, Automotive, Civil, Rail and Environmental. Facilities are available to industry and academic users.

Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

University of Bristol

Designation:
Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel
Test Section Size:
2m x 1m x 20m
Maximum Flow Speed:
32m/s

8ft x 6ft Low Speed

Cranfield University

Designation:
Closed Return
Test Section Size:
2.4 x 1.8m
7:1 Contraction ratio
Maximum Flow Speed:
5 – 45m/s

Transonic/Supersonic

City, University of London

Designation:
Closed return, induction driven
Test Section Size:
0.2 x 0.25 x 0.5m
Maximum Flow Speed:
Mach 2

Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL)

University of Birmingham

Designation:
Open-circuit tunnel
Test Section Size:
2m square working cross-section & 14m long working section
Current ABL length scale of 1:300
Maximum Flow Speed:
Maximum freestream wind-speed of approximately 10m/s

TRAIN rig

University of Birmingham

Designation:
Low Speed, Train rig
Test Section Size:
The overall length of the facility is 150 m with a 50 m long test section.
1/25th for rail vehicle testing, but larger road vehicle models can be used up to 1/10th scale.
Maximum Flow Speed:
Model speed - up to 80 m/s.
Propulsion system – two rubber catapults, one at each end of the rig.

Transonic and Supersonic

University of Cambridge

Designation:
Open Return blow down
Test Section Size:
0.12 x 0.2 x 0.6m

NOTE: Two identical facilities
Maximum Flow Speed:
Mach 0.6 - 3.5

10ft x 5ft Low Speed

Imperial College London

Designation:
Low speed, closed return
Test Section Size:
10ft x 5ft (3.04m x 1.52m x 20m)
Maximum Flow Speed:
41 m/s

Aeroacoustic

University of Bristol

Designation:
Low Speed, Aeroacoustic
Test Section Size:
Anechoic chamber: approximately 7 x 4.5 x 3.5m
High-Speed nozzle: 0.6 x 0.2m maximum speed 100m/s
Medium-Speed nozzle: 0.6 m x 0.4 m; maximum speed 60m/s
Low-Speed nozzle: 0.6 m x 0.755 m; maximum speed 40m/s
Jet: 1.5inch diameter; maximum speed 1.4 Mach
Maximum Flow Speed:
Low speed nozzle: 40m/s
Medium speed nozzle: 60m/s
High speed nozzle: 80m/s
Jet:1.4Mach

Icing Tunnel

Cranfield University

Designation:
Open return
Test Section Size:
Section 1: 0.76 x 0.76m
Section 2: 0.81m octagonal
Section 3: 0.4 x 0.4m
Maximum Flow Speed:
35 - 170m/s

Supersonic

Imperial College London

Designation:
Intermittent hybrid blow-down / suck-down arrangement.
Test Section Size:
0.15 x 0.15 x 2 m (max)
20:1 contraction ratio
Maximum Flow Speed:
600 ms¯¹