The 21st Century Renaissance of the Transonic Wind Tunnel

December 7th talk by Dr Doug Greenwell FRAeS, Consulting Aerodynamicist hosted at the Friendly Nettle Cafe about the 21st Century Renaissance of the Transonic Wind Tunnel.

Received wisdom is that in this age of digital engineering, wind tunnels are in decline. However, the imminent demise of the wind tunnel has been eagerly anticipated for over 50 years now … and yet they have stubbornly refused to die. Indeed, the last 10 years have seen high-speed wind tunnels stage a remarkable comeback; new tunnels are being built, existing tunnels are being upgraded, and mothballed tunnels are being reactivated. In this talk I will focus on industrial-scale transonic wind tunnels, briefly discussing the historical development of these facilities and then reviewing their current and near-future status. I will be comparing and contrasting the state of UK and international high-speed wind tunnels, with some thoughts on the way forward for the UK

Speaker Details: Doug Greenwell is a part-time Associate Director at ESDU, with a sideline in consultancy on applied aerodynamics, from wind engineering to high-speed flight. He gained his PhD in delta wing aerodynamics from Bath University in 1993, followed by a varied career spanning 35 years in academic, industrial, and government research. He has extensive experience of industrial wind tunnel testing, ranging from low-speed building aerodynamics as Technical Director at RWDI in Dunstable, to transonic flight vehicle testing as Chief Aerodynamicist at ARA in Bedford