Go with the flow
An airflow simulation technique involving helium bubbles inside a wind tunnel could help in the design of environmentally friendly cars. Siobhan Wagner reports.
A new wind tunnel technology that allows designers to 'see' airflow could help automakers design cars that are more aerodynamic and produce less carbon emissions.
Engineers at the British automotive test company
developed the visualisation technique, which uses hundreds of tiny helium-filled bubbles and an array of 12 Hollywood-style motion-capture cameras inside a Full Scale Automotive Wind Tunnel. The MIRA tunnel is currently the only commercially available full-scale wind tunnel in the UK.
The neutrally buoyant 3mm bubbles are injected into the flow in areas under investigation and the cameras track each bubble and reveal more information about flow than was previously possible. 'With this we can tell where flows originate, what the flow is doing at any one moment in time and how it evolves in time,' explained Angus Lock, MIRA's head of aerodynamics.
The technique is a significant improvement on current wind tunnel tests, which detect forces such as downforce and drag on a car but cannot explain how those forces generate.
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