We are excited to start using our new wind tunnel which was installed in 2019.  The tunnel has a 1.2 x 1.2 x 4 meter test section and can operate at speeds from 2 – 50 meters/second (approx 5 – 120 mph). The test section is enclosed by the “White House” which is a BioSafety Level 2 enclosure with HEPA-filtered air exhaust, which allows us to test wild-caught birds and bats without fear of transmission of any infectious agents.

The flow quality is excellent, with turbulence fluctuations below 0.03% of the free stream velocity – Details about the design and performance of the wind tunnel are in this paper published in Experiments in Fluids. 

The wind tunnel has a complete suite of measurement systems including 6-axis force transducers, a computer-controlled Pitch-Yaw model positioning system, a cross-stream probe traversing system. non-invasive Particle Image Velocimetry lasers, high speed cameras, hot wire anemometers, etc, etc.

The wind tunnel is suitable for both aerodynamic and animal fight experiments and can be used by researchers based at Brown university, other research institutions, public and private companies. It operates as a cost-center at Brown University and can be used on a weekly basis for very modest usage fees.

For more information, please contact the facility director, Prof Kenny Breuer