Recent Upgrades to the Swift 8ft × 9ft Rolling-Road Wind Tunnel

Mark Page; John Winkler; Neil Roberts; Tom Huschilt; Doug Smyth; Brian Kane

doi:10.4271/2002-01-3341

This paper describes upgrades to the Swift 8’ by 9’ rolling-road wind tunnel that will be available for use in 2003. The Swift tunnel was originally commissioned in 1994. Since then it has been used extensively for development of Champ cars, Formula-1 cars, Winston Cup cars, NHRA Funny cars, and OEM cars. As racing technology has advanced, new features were explored to stay ahead of demand.

Design of the upgrades began in 2001. The specific objectives were to provide all possible motions “on-the-fly.” Such a capability significa ntly improves productivity for car development. This required new data acquisition and tunnel control systems for the added degrees-of-freedom. A Sting mount was selected to add full motion and offer reduced aero interference with the model. A proprietary mechanism provides 30° of pitch and yaw in a very slender structure. The Sting can be used alone, or in combination with the existing Strut.

This paper describes the requirements, criteria, and design solutions for the upgrade. Also included are the range-of-motion and load limits for the new system.

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Recent Upgrades to the Swift 8ft × 9ft Rolling-Road Wind Tunnel 2002-01-3341

SAE MOBILUS