Due to customer demand, the features list of motor vehicles for the next century will require manufacturers to design vehicles that not only keep up with exacting legislation changes, but also meet higher specifications combined with reduced product cycle times.This paper outlines the development of MIRA's Climatic Wind Tunnel (CWT) as a commercially sponsored venture with total funding being generated within the Automobile Industry, and the effect that this sponsorship had on the fundamental design parameters.The facility can provide air temperatures from -40°C to +55°C, and humidity from 5% to 95% with wind and road speeds up to 200km/h. Both solar and hot road radiation can be simulated. It can accommodate both 2-wheel and 4-wheel drive vehicles and can absorb up to 300 kW of power at the road wheels.The construction of the £4.5 million CWT project was project managed by MIRA's own Civils and Facility Departments and took 14 months to complete from start to finish. This was a complex project which required continuous cooperation between the building contractors and various mechanical and electrical suppliers during the implementation of the consultants technical specification.The paper concludes by describing the range of tests that can be carried out in the CWT that will allow the industry to build better products at lower costs by providing repeatable, secure, climatic conditions at any time of the year without the need to travel to overseas locations.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    The Design and Construction of MIRA's Climatic Wind Tunnel


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    International Pacific Conference On Automotive Engineering ; 1993



    Publication date :

    1993-11-01




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    The design and construction of MIRA's climatic wind tunnel

    Fletcher,D.W. / Motor Industry Research Association,MIRA,GB | Automotive engineering | 1993


    The Design and Construction of MIRA's Climatic Wind Tunnel

    Fletcher, D. W. / SAE | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993


    Advances in Unsteady Aerodynamic Measurements in MIRA's Full-Scale Wind Tunnel

    Lock, A. / Fiet, G.O. / Ali, M. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008


    MIRA's Refurbished HyGe Side Impact Laboratory

    British Library Online Contents | 1996


    Design and construction of the UOIT climatic wind tunnel

    Elfstrom,G.M. / Rohrauer,G.L. / Aiolos Engineering,Toronto,CA et al. | Automotive engineering | 2010