The wind tunnel continues to be the main instrument for providing experimental aerodynamic data to the aerospace industry and the aerodynamic researcher for the purpose of load and performance evaluation and for verification of theoretical results. In both cases it is imperative that the user has confidence in the quality of the results, which means that he must have information on what accuracy to attach to the data. The quality of wind tunnel results depends upon both the accuracy of measurements and the imperfections provided by the wind tunnel environment. Great strides have been made in recent years on measurement accuracy and as a rule this need no longer be of much concern if properly attended to. However, imperfections provided by the wind tunnel environment are still with us and these are today the main sources affecting the quality and accuracy of aerodynamic data obtained in a wind tunnel. It was the purpose of this symposium to try to define what accuracy has presently been achieved in modern facilities and to compare these achievements with the actual demands of the user.

This volume contains results of the German CFD initiative MEGADESIGN which combines CFD development activities from DLR, universities and aircraft industry. Based on the DLR flow solvers FLOWer and TAU the main objectives of the four-years project is to ensure the prediction accuracy with a guaranteed error bandwidth for certain aircraft configurations at design conditions, to reduce the simulation turn-around time for large-scale applications significantly, to improve the reliability of the flow solvers for full aircraft configurations in the complete flight regime, to extend the flow solvers to allow for multidisciplinary simulations and to establish numerical shape optimization as a vital tool within the aircraft design process. This volume highlights recent improvements and enhancements of the flow solvers as well as new developments with respect to aerodynamic and multidisciplinary shape optimization. Improved numerical simulation capabilities are demonstrated by several industrial applications.

Wind Tunnel Test Techniques: Design and Use at Low and High Speeds with Statistical Engineering Applications provides an up-to-date treatment of the topic. Beginning with a brief history of wind tunnels and its types and uses, the book goes on to cover subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnel design and construction, calibration, boundary corrections, flow quality assessment, pressure surveys, and dynamic testing. It also focuses on wind tunnel facilities, making it useful for both the designer and operator. Engineers and graduate students in aerospace, automotive and similar programs will find this book useful in their work with experimental aerodynamics, gas dynamics, facility design and performance. - Deals with a broad range of flow speeds in wind tunnels, from low speed to high speed - Provides a discussion of similarity laws as well as material on statistical analysis - Includes coverage on facility-to-facility and facility-to-CFD correlation - Presents advanced topics such as cryogenic wind tunnels, ground simulation in automotive testing, and propulsion testing