THE WIND TUNNEL'S GROUND PLANE BOUNDARY LAYER--IT'S INTERFERENCE WITH THE FLOW UNDERNEATH CARS

In order to determine the best way to simulate a road in the full-scale climatic wind tunnel of the Volkswagenwerk AG, a series of comparative tests between road and tunnel have been carried out. In general, a good correlation was achieved when a rigid ground plane was used for road simulation. Only a small margin for improvement by boundary-layer control remains. From measurements reported in the literature, it can be seen that an effective reduction of the boundary-layer displacement thickness of 60% can be achieved with single-slot suction. Nevertheless, this would result in a hardly noticeable improvement of test-data correlation for cars with standard ground clearance. Therefore, it was decided not to install a boundary-layer suction in the wind tunnel of Volkswagenwerk AG.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Report from the Automotive Congress and Exposition, 24-28 February 1975, Detroit, Michigan.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers

  485 Lexington Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10017
• Authors:
  • Hucho, W H
  • Janssen, L J
  • Schwartz, G
• Publication Date: 1975

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 10 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aerodynamics; Boundary layer; Driving simulators; Mineral dislocations; Road tests; Soil suction; Vehicular tunnels; Wind tunnels
• Uncontrolled Terms: Suction
• Old TRIS Terms: Boundary layer control
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00096930
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 750066
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 15 1975 12:00AM