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59 Wind Tunnel Testing

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Wind tunnel testing remains a cornerstone of understanding the aerodynamics of all types of flight vehicles. Wind tunnels come in a range of sizes and configurations, with speed capabilities spanning from subsonic to hypersonic. Their design and operation rely heavily on the principles associated with internal flows to ensure a clean, uniform, and stable flow environment in the test section. This controlled flow environment enables the systematic measurement of aerodynamic forces, surface pressures, and velocity fields on scaled wings, aircraft models, propellers, and other components. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods have advanced significantly over the last three decades, wind tunnel testing remains indispensable for studying more complex flow phenomena, such as those involving flow separation and vortical flows, validating CFD and other predictive tools, and supporting design and development work. Today, wind tunnels are invaluable not only in the field of aeronautical and aerospace engineering but also in automotive, civil, and environmental applications.

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Introduction to Aerospace Flight Vehicles Copyright © 2022–2025 by J. Gordon Leishman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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