European transonic wind tunnel

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ETW in Cologne

The European Transonic Wind Tunnel ( ETW , English European Transonic Windtunnel ) is a test and simulation system that offers the possibility of testing aircraft models under almost real flight conditions, among other things. It is located on Ernst-Mach- Strasse in Cologne in the immediate vicinity of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The facility was established in cooperation with the Office national d'études et de recherches aérospatiales ( ONERA , France), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, Great Britain), the Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratoriume (NLR, Netherlands) and the German Center for Air - and space travel and has been operated by them since its completion in 1992. In 2012, the French ONERA left the project.

properties

The wind tunnel allows wind tunnel measurements to be taken at low temperatures (−163  ° C to 40 ° C), high pressures (1.15–4.5 bar ), high wind speeds (0.15–1.35 Mach ) with quick changes of the test model (up to to 3 test campaigns / day).

It reaches Reynolds numbers of up to 50 million for full models and 85 million for half models. The measuring section has a rectangular cross-section of 2.4 m (width) × 2 m (height), which allows models with a wingspan of around 1.5 m (full models) or half-span (half models). The separate control of pressure, temperature and speed means that the Mach number, Reynolds number and dynamic pressure can be controlled separately from one another. This allows the effects of compressibility, model deformation and scaling to be considered in isolation. In addition to the condo, there is only one wind tunnel in the United States with comparable properties: The NTF (National Transonic Facility) of NASA at the Langley Research Center .

business

The Office national d'études et de recherches aérospatiales ( ONERA , France), the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom) (DTI, Great Britain), the Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratoriume (NLR, Netherlands) and the German Aerospace Center and space travel (DLR, Germany) operated the ETW jointly. They were involved with shares of 31% (F), 31% (GB), 7% (NL) and 31% (D). The current shareholders of European Transonic Windtunnel GmbH are DLR with 45%, BIS and QinetiQ with 45% and NLR with 10% after France left the network in 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d ETW - Pushes the Limits , information brochure (PDF)
  2. ^ ETW: Company Profile: Legal Aspects , accessed on August 22, 2014
  3. ↑ Towards a European Strategic Aviation Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation Infrastructure , p. 12. Accessed August 22, 2014

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 51 '2.3 "  N , 7 ° 7' 14.6"  E