National Wind Tunnel FacilityReview 2019

Jonathan MorrisonDepartment of Aeronautics, Imperial College

Advisory Board Meeting

March 6, 2019

http://www.nwtf.ac.uk/html/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wind_Tunnel_Facility

https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/facilities/access/otherfacilities/national-wind-tunnel-facility-nwtf/1

National Wind Tunnel Facility

• A network of 17 talent-focused facilities distributed across 7 universities

• Multi-sectoral research, low TRL (<3) but with aerospace focus

• Full range of Reynolds and Mach numbers• Open access for up to 25% of time• Universities are

– Clearly committed to wind tunnels– Research intensive– Prepared to demonstrate best practice

Open Access

Selected Tunnels

• Trans/Supersonic: Cambridge, City*,

Imperial* (0.4 < M < 3.5)

• Hypersonic: Imperial, Oxford* (4 < M < 25)

• Aerospace: Glasgow (rotorcraft), Cranfield

(icing)

* New University investment ~£75m

• Low speed: Cranfield, Imperial*, Southampton*, City

(transition) (Re/m < 3.3×106)

• Environmental: Cranfield (ABL), Southampton* (hydroscience

tank, anechoic tunnel)

From 2014

Tunnels Status Jan 2019

Tunnel Status Notes

Cambridge Supersonic x 2 Fully operational Two tunnels in tandem

City Low speed, low turbulenceTransonic

Fully operationalGaster tunnel – moved from QMUL pre NWTF

Cranfield Low speed 8x6Low speed 8x4Icing tunnel

All fully operational Icing tunnel: personnel changes

Glasgow Low speed 9x7(de Havilland)

Fully operational (Gust facility under construction)

Tunnel Director appointedMENToR - rotor rig*

Imperial Low speed 10x5SupersonicHypersonic gun

On line Jan 2017Commissioning April 2019*In need of refurbishment

Operational except traverseImperial/donor fundedSignificant outages

Oxford T6High density hypersonicLow density

Fully operationalFully operationalFully operational June 2016

31 tests to date530 tests to date

Southampton Low speed MitchellAnechoic tunnelHydrosciences tank

Fully operationalCommissioning Feb 2018*On line Aug 2016

* Same contractorOperational Dec 2018Operational - towing arraynearly complete

Tunnel usage: metrics

5

Designation: location of PI relative to the facility, source of funds relative to the host institution

Internal, Overhead

Internal, Internal

Internal, external

External, External

Teaching Commissioning, Repair,

Maintenance

Off

IO II IE EE T CRM O

Data recorded from June 2014, or from date that tunnel came on line

Grant Capital Spend

Cambridge City Cranfield Glasgow Imperial Oxford Southampton Total

£k 582 615 1,277 1,489 3,410 1,632 3,060 12,065

Tunnel income, cumulative(Feb 2019) Research grant proposals (non commercial)

EPSRC – 11 (24)o external users: TWO (FIVE)

Industry / IUK – 18 (23) Industry – 2 (2) Other – 3 (3) EU – 2 (3)

Total grant / contract value £12.58 m,of which: £ 5.13m is industry / IUK / Gov’t £ 6.82 m is EPSRC £ 0.63 m is EU

Industry-led testing (commercial) Aeronautical – 38 Other – 33

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Key:Successful (Total)

Tunnel usage: Cambridge

7

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: City Gaster

8

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: City Transonic

9

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Cranfield 8x4

10

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Cranfield 8x6

11

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Cranfield Icing

12

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Glasgow dH

13

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Imperial 10x5

14

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Imperial Hypersonic

15

Total weeks % of time ON

• No investment from original NWTF• Requires significant investment – grant application in progress• Single external user

Tunnel usage: Oxford T6

16

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Oxford HDT

17

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Oxford LDT

18

Total weeks % of time ON

Tunnel usage: Southampton Mitchell

19

Total weeks % of time ON

Review of tunnels- mission statement

Original list of constituent tunnelso Match to original criteria

Commitment of research-intensive university

PI with international visibility – commitment to wind tunnels

Investigators prepared to demonstrate best practice

Balance of tunnels

o Aerospace dominance through ATI

o Approaches by Surrey (environmental), Manchester (aerospace), Bristol (aerospace & civil), Birmingham (environmental & civil)

o Tunnel review, summer 2018: additional 6 tunnels from 11 replies from 11 EoI

o Growth to 23 tunnels: 12 universities20

Selection – assessment criteria

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1. University commitment?

2. Research intensive with proven

track record?

3. Research group capacity to

support / contribute?

Is facility complementary in terms of

(one of):

1. The facility itself

2. Equality, diversity and inclusion of

host

3. Geographic location

Criteria(allthreetobemet)

Is facility unique?

Complementarity(atleastonetobemet)

Y

N

N

Y

N

Specialfactors?

Y

N

Y

Year in review: achievements

Demonstrating that capital-intensive facilities can be used sustainably

Tunnels have (at a minimum) notional business models – FEC+

income subsidises FEC-

Generating visibility, demonstrating needo Streamlined proposal submission process, technical annexe

o Established KPIs, service level agreement, risk log

MB meets quarterly – usually with full attendance

Project Manager has been funded at 50%FTE by NWTF subscription, up to mid-2018

‘Passed’ mid-term review, May 2017

Tunnel review completed – further 6 tunnels included22

MENtOR – EPSRC

• Tilt-rotor aeromechanics, including CFD, composites, dynamics, control, aeroelasticity.

• Glasgow lead, with Bath, Bristol, Cranfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, £2.8 m

• Glasgow – rotor rig (gearbox development)

• Vertical Lift Network – includes ARA, Leonardo, DSTL

• NWTF facilities: Glasgow 9x7, Cranfield 8x6, Bath 5x7

HL-CRM – Boeing, QinetiQ, ATI

• QinetiQ 5 m tunnel: 3.5 m full-span model

• Boeing / QinetiQ collaboration also includes 1.2 m half-span model

• Development of NWTF proposal– Additional 1.2 m half-span model

– Variable geometry, complementary test programmes

– Cranfield 8x7, Glasgow 9x7, Imperial 10x5, Southampton (Mitchell)

– Model & data developed as national assets

• Workshop planned around next MB May 9, 2019 (Cranfield)

Hypersonics – Oxford

• T6 substantial refurbishment:– Several modes of operation: (reflected)

shock / expansions– Europe’s highest speed tunnel, 10

km/sec, M<30

• HDT: refurbished Ludwieg tube – light piston compression heating– cold hypersonic flow

• Both used for EPSRC + RR “Transpiration cooling” grant + EOARD, ESA, DSTL, REL

• LDT: “satellite demise” + Lockheed Martin, STFC/FGE

• D = 6 PDRA + 11 DPhil

Stalker T6 tunnel

High density tunnel

Low density tunnel

10x5 – Imperial

o Nonequilibrium boundary layers – EPSRC

o Transpiration cooling – EPSRC, Rolls Royce

• Wind-on Jan 2017• First industry contract Dec 2017• Annual turnover ~£400k• Commercial / industry wind

engineering sector • New research programmes, • D = 3 permanent staff, 2 PDRA + 1 PhD

Communicating strategy and policy

Build on existing visibilityo Odqvist Laboratory (Dec 2014)

o EPSRC Capital Strategy Workshop (July 2015)

o Wind tunnel roadmap (Sept 2015)

o UKCRIC workshop (March 2016)

o ATI conference (Nov. 2017), ATI SAG (Feb. 2019)

o UKRI Infrastructure Roadmap (Spring 2019)

Second half of grant period focusing on communicationo Users’ Forum (as a SIG of UK Fluids Network)

o Increased publicity: Impact brochure. Web page needs update

o International

o EuHIT: International Collaboration on Turbulence Research?

o Wind tunnel consolidation U. Paris-Saclay campus (CNRS, ONERA, ÉcolePolytechnique, École Centrale, Paris-Tech….)

o Australia: ‘NWTF’ workshop April 11-12, 2019 27

Proposal for National ConsortiumAustralia

Academic-led U. Melbourne

Adelaide University, DST, RMIT,

Monash, U. Sydney, U. Tasmania,

U. Queensland

Industry stakeholders

Boeing Australia, BAE, Ford,

Lockheed Martin, GM Holden +

defence-industry SME’s

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New campus, flagship facility, Fisherman’s Bend (UoM)

Co-location of industry, education and research

Shared capital + operating costs for robustness

Staff development and mobility

Open - Access Fund (OAF)

Application to Strategic Equipment Processo Resource only

o 1+2 year arrangement

o Investigators: Nottingham, Warwick, QMUL, Brunel, Imperial

o Panel interview March 27, 2019

Currently operates as a SIG as part of UK Fluids Network

Need for first year (no funding) to set up process

Addresses community polarisation directly – seed funding

100%FEC funding for tunnels plus T&S for researcher

NWTF ‘in-kind’ contribution - host tunnels provide support and basic training

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Impact and Advocacy

Stakeholder engagement: policy makers, industry, researchers

NWTF is entirely consistent with EPSRC policy, but it is also a

community choice

Culture change takes persistence

Multi-user access to multi-institutional world-class facilities –

there is no international comparison, yet

Impact has not been and cannot be immediate

Researchers need incentives to travel:

o Facility must offer unique capability

o Facility and the process have to be trusted – full-time PM, service level

agreements, KPIs

o T&S30

Next steps

Appointment of new full-time Project Manager - essential

Users’ forum: independent panel decides ARCHER-like access allocationso EPSRC proposal, PI: Kwing-So Choi, Nottingham

o “an absolutely crucial element” – AB

Transparent review process of constituent tunnels – based on uptake, primarily by external researchers

NWTF ➾o Demonstration of need – user community

o Tunnel business models – use of tunnel income for repairs, unfunded research access – sustainability

o Establishment of on-going mechanism for NWTF

Forum for NWTF / industry / gov’t interactiono Industry engagement via ATI – Boeing / QinetiQ / ATI model

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Last slide

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Infrastructure Realignment

• Need: 182 wind tunnels in UK– 75 of which are in universities – of these, only 10-20 are research active

• Tunnels supported through FEC estate rate – does not reflect true running costs (e.g. space charges, depreciation)

• Wakeham report 2010: research efficiency, sustainability

• EPSRC:– Delivery Plan (2011-15): “support fewer facilities in a more sustainable way”

– Strategic Plan 2015: “efficiencies through equipment sharing and strategic investments of capital around centres of excellence”

– Delivery Plan 2016/17-2019/20: mid-range facilities to enable “UK access to

national, state of the art infrastructure, expertise and techniques that are core to EPSRC research priorities”.

– UKRI Infrastructure Roadmap 2019 –

Key Research Challenges

• Turbulence

“..the most important unsolved problem of classical physics”

• Energy efficiency

The central challenge for new fluid-based systems

• Fluid – surface interaction

UAVs, VIV, shock waves

• Scalar transport

Dispersion, air-sea CO2 exchange

• Noise

Generated by transport and energy processes

• High-speed aerothermodynamics

High M transition, shock wave / boundary layer interaction radiation heating