Wind Tunnel Testing for Aircraft Development – Online Short Course (Starts 4 March 2025) 4 March - 20 March 2025 Online
Image courtesy of Bombardier Aerospace
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From 4–20 March 2025 (3 Weeks, 6 Lectures/Classes, 18 Total Hours)
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Every Tuesday and Thursday at 1–4 p.m. Eastern Time (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
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This course is a primer on wind tunnels and wind tunnel testing, primarily for aviation applications. The course considers these aspects from both the client side and the facility side, underpinned by a focus on cost and data quality. Numerous examples are provided.
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All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.
OVERVIEW
This short course is designed to provide the ‘big picture” of wind tunnel testing best practices used in the industry and government laboratories in support of aircraft design, development, and certification. The course is delivered from two perspectives, one from the facility side in terms of furnishing high-quality and productive facilities with broad capabilities, and the other from the client side who uses these facilities to execute aircraft performance, icing, and stability & control wind tunnel testing, gathering crucial data to support aircraft development. The course is focused on transonic and low-speed testing.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Understand the genesis of wind tunnels as applied to the aviation industry
- Understand the cycle of aircraft development programs and how industry uses wind tunnel tests to support such development
- Wind tunnel calibrations, instrumentation, model supports, measurements
- Gain an appreciation of the broad types of wind tunnel tests
- Understand data reduction and analysis
- Learn to translate wind tunnel data into parameters supporting aircraft design and development decisions
- A review of best practices and pitfalls associated with wind tunnel testing
AUDIENCE
The course is ideal for attendees who are or will be involved in the planning, design, and execution of wind tunnel tests for aircraft, as well as for individuals who manage, support, and develop major wind tunnel facilities. Graduate students using wind tunnels as part of their research would also benefit from this course. The course is a broad overview and it best suited to those with less than ten years’ experience in the field.
COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register)
- AIAA Member Price: $995 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1195 USD
- AIAA Student Member Price: $595 USD
CLASSROOM HOURS / CEUs: 18 classroom hours / 1.8 CEU/PDH
Cancellation Policy: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 5 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.
Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have any questions about the course or group discounts.
- History
- Low-speed facilities
- High-speed facilities
- Pressurized facilities
- Cryogenic facilities
- Specialized Facilities
- Security and Productivity
- Flow Characteristics
- Performance
- Stability & Control
- Ice Shapes
- Ground Effects
- Powered Testing
- Stores Clearance
- Dynamic Stability
- Icing
- CFD Validation with Model in the WT
- Acoustic
- Aeroelastic
- Rotorcraft
- Design Phases and Exit Gates
- A/C General Configuration Selection
- A/C Performance & Sizing Design Drivers
- A/C Stability and Control & Sizing Design Drivers
- Other A/C Design Drivers
- The Role of Wind Tunnel Testing
- Model Support and Mounts
- Quantified Flow
- Wind Tunnel Measurement Techniques
- Measurement Quality
- Staff
- Wind Tunnel Selection
- Model Scaling
- Model Instrumentation
- Model Structural Design Requirements
- Model Build-up
- Reduction to Coefficients
- Boundary Corrections
- Tare and Interference Corrections
- Power Effects Correction
- Reynolds Number Correction
- Aircraft Drag Polars
- Longitudinal Stability
- Lateral/Directional Stability
- Control Surface Effectiveness
- Trim Conditions
- Maximum Lift & Stall Characteristics
- High-speed Buffet Boundaries
- Incorporation to Flight Simulation
COURSE DELIVERY AND MATERIALS
- The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. Access to the Zoom classroom will be provided to registrants near to the course start date. Test your connection here: zoom.us/test
- All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7.
- All slides will be available for download after each lecture. No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
- Between lectures during the course, the instructor(s) will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Steve Zan joined the Aerodynamics Laboratory of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in 1984 after graduating from Engineering Science at U of Toronto. He obtained a PhD in aeronautical engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1990. In his thirty-two-year career he has become a leading expert on subsonic wind tunnel testing, having applied his knowledge to commercial aircraft development programs, to launch and recovery of rotorcraft from ships, and to wind loading of some of the world’s major structures. Dr. Zan was appointed Director of Aerodynamics at NRC in 2006 and retired from that position in 2016.
His academic credentials include a Research Fellowship at Darwin College, Cambridge (1990), an appointment as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool (2006) and an appointment as an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University (2004- 2010). He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal from 2007 to 2013 and is an Associate Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute.
Hany Sadek was a Senior Engineering Advisor at Bombardier Aerospace where he was involved in the design, integration, wind tunnel testing, flight testing and certification of several Bombardier aircraft development programs. He has a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1983 and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Cairo University in 1974.
He has over 35 years experience as a Flight Sciences Engineer and continues to be active in aircraft development projects and instructing on aircraft design and civil certification flight test. He is a Design Approval Representative (DAR) with Transport Canada, Flight Test Analyst (Aircraft Performance and Stability and Control).
AIAA Training Links
For information, group discounts,
and private course pricing, contact:
Lisa Le, Education Specialist (lisal@aiaa.org)