Simulation of the operation of a climatic wind tunnel

The climatic wind tunnel (CWT) is a facility which is widely used in vehicle and component manufacturing to reduce product development times. In view of the wide range of temperatures, humidities and wind speeds required for testing, the energy cost can be a significant part of the overall cost of testing. The paper describes a project which was primarily concerned with the development of a detailed, component-based model of a climatic wind tunnel, its associated plant and the test vehicle. The model was tested against measured plant performance and shown to give a satisfactory representation of plant performance. The potential uses of the model are illustrated by the exploration of alternative control strategies and plant configurations.