Facilities

 
Testing times – Wind and Smoke Tunnels Workshop

 
Designing and modelling cars and planes is challenging but here at Coventry University’s Faculty of Engineering and Computing you can test your concept to the limit.

As a motorsport or aerospace student you will be a regular visitor to the Wind and Smoke Tunnels where models can be put through their paces in a Low Speed Wind Tunnel, Smoke Tunnel and even a Supersonic Tunnel, giving you the experience of working in a real project environment.

Low Speed Wind Tunnel

 
The closed return circuit tunnel is a crucial piece of equipment, enabling you to vary the air velocity in the test section between 6 and 52 metres per second. Automotive and other non-aero models can have drag, side and lift forces, pitch, roll and yaw movements measured and co-efficients  from the data calculated.
You can discover if your aerofoil design will really work – by using a TEM three component parallel motion beam balance in the tunnel to focus on the aerodynamic forces on your aerofoil, measuring its lift force, drag force and pitching movement.

Smoke Tunnel and Supersonic Tunnel

 
The faculty’s smoke tunnel is an open circuit, straight through design with a 914mm working section where you can view smoke flow over your design and adjust your model’s position. Both the smoke tunnel and low speed wind tunnel attract students from Coventry and other universities as well as companies that wish to use the facilities. It is hoped the exciting Supersonic Tunnel will be up and running for the new term.

Using the workshop is all part of the faculty’s innovative Activity Led Learning approach which encourages you to get out of the classroom and work in a project environment to put your designs and problem solving skills to the test.