Commercial Wind Tunnel Testing Workshop

Date:

15th January 2025

Location:

Preston

Organisation:

BAE Systems

Host(s):

Craig Eckersley, Phil Liston-Smith, Chris Murphy

The aim of this 1-day workshop was to provide wind tunnel facility operators from academic and research institutions with awareness of additional considerations in commercial wind tunnel testing as seen from the perspective of an industrial wind tunnel facility operator. The workshop addressed lifecycle management, technical reviews, quality assurance, product safety and product security and conclude with illustrative case studies to highlight the importance of these aspects.

Organisations that generate revenue by conducting wind tunnel testing for external customers have fundamental obligations not only in terms of safety, health and environment, but in many cases, national security and ensuring they provide optimal value for money to customers.

Put into a technical context, the lifecycle management process presents a series of review stages from the inception to the closure of a wind tunnel test campaign, covering cost estimation and planning, verification of facility and model suitability, efficient test execution and completion, data delivery, reporting, and final actions all in compliance with auditable industrial quality assurance standards. Robust product safety and security assessments help to prevent injury to personnel, damage to the test facility or test article, and harm to the environment and ensuring project information and test data are kept safe from unauthorized access, destruction or interference.

This course was aimed at those involved in wind tunnel testing primarily for educational or research purposes, but also for commercial wind tunnel test requirements for external customers.

Workshop Programme:

• Craig Eckersley: Technical lifecycle management (LCM)
• Phil Liston-Smith: Product integrity
• Chris Murphy: Case studies – when we did or did not follow LCM
• Tour of low-speed and high-speed test facilities
• Group discussion

The workshop took place at Warton, near Preston, Lancashire.

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