Measurement of ground effect and boundary-layer transition by towing wind tunnel

Abstract

A newly constructed towing wind tunnel facility is introduced. In this wind tunnel, unlike a conventional wind tunnel, a testing model moves in still air on a testing track. This towing wind tunnel facility can therefore simulate highly complex flow between steady ground and a moving model without using a moving belt system. The performance of this facility is first explained. Some results of wings in ground effect experiments and boundary-layer transition experiments obtained using this facility are then given. From these results, we conclude that this facility has enough performance for complex flow testing.