Case Studies
NWTF Free Access Supports Early Career Research in Hypersonic Study
The National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) continues to support early career researchers through its Free Access Programme, which enables academic researchers to use NWTF facilities at no cost. This initiative…
Pollinators’ Plight: NWTF Facility Reveals Impact of Ozone on Bee Behaviour
Experiments at the National Wind Tunnel Facility’s EnFlo wind tunnel at the University of Surrey, have precisely measured how ozone pollution degrades floral scents and the significant impact this has…
The future of freight: NWTF team design AI-assisted, moveable flaps to cut aerodynamic drag on trucks
A research team at the National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) has characterised the dynamic air flow around a scale model truck, informing the design of intelligent, adjustable flaps to reduce…
Plymouth Researchers use Free Access Scheme for Towing Tank Tests
Researchers from the University of Plymouth’s Maritime Simulation and COAST laboratories used the NWTF Towing Tank at the University of Southampton in late August, conducting a week of towing experiments…
Wrexham University Researcher at RJ Mitchell Wind Tunnel
Researcher mobility is a key initiative of the NWTF, encouraging researchers to travel from their host institution to carry out an experiment at an NWTF to enhance their research. In…
NWTF Spotlight: The High Supersonic Wind Tunnel (HSST)
Operating at Mach 4, 5 & 6, the High Supersonic Wind Tunnel (HSST) facility at the University of Manchester has excellent optical access allowing measurement techniques such as Schlieren, PSP,…
Researcher Mobility: Cameron Wallace, Loughborough University
Researcher mobility is a key initiative of the NWTF, encouraging researchers to travel from their host institution to carry out an experiment at an NWTF to enhance their research. In…
Boldrewood Towing Tank, University of Southampton
The Boldrewood Towing Tank is the only facility of its scale based at a UK university and as a member of the National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF), it’s a national…
Herringbone riblet surface structures reduce shock-induced flow separation.
Researchers at the University of Manchester, led by Professor Shan Zhong, have found that herringbone riblets – inspired by the wing surface structures of birds, could provide improvements to the…
Miniaturisation of Flow Diagnostic Measurements (miniPSP)
This project, funded by Innovate UK in collaboration with the Aircraft Research Association (ARA) built upon the years of experience of the two institutions at utilising and developing flow diagnostic…
Bio-inspired micro-scale surface structures for reducing shockwave-induced flow separation.
Bio-inspired micro-scale surface structures have been successfully employed to suppress shockwave-induced flow separation for the first time as demonstrated in a wind tunnel experiment undertaken at The University of Manchester….
Flow diagnostic technique development for industrial-scale experiments.
A PhD project sponsored by the European Space Agency has investigated experimental techniques that can be applied to high-speed wind tunnel tests to investigate the breakup of satellites and other…