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This paper presents the application of statistical process control (SPC) methods to Windshear, a 180-mph motorsports and automotive wind tunnel equipped with a wide-belt rolling road system. The SPC approach captures the complete variability of the facility and offers useful process performance metrics that are based on a sound statistical framework. Traditional control charts are explored, emphasizing the uniqueness of variability experienced in wind tunnels which includes significant, unexplained short-term and long-term variation compared to typical manufacturing processes. This unique variation is elegantly captured by the three-way control chart, which is applied to estimate the complete process reproducibility with different levels of repeatability of vehicle drag coefficient. The sensitivity of three-way control charts is explored including the evaluation of an alternate group assignment within the same dataset.

The Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALO) includes a new aeroacoustic wind tunnel located near Marysville, Ohio that started operations in 2022. This facility provides world-class aerodynamic flow quality and acoustic testing capabilities for the development of both passenger and motorsports vehicles. This closed-return ¾ open jet wind tunnel features a two-position flexible nozzle system with cross sections of 25 m2 and 18 m2, providing wind speeds of up to 250 km/h and 310 km/h, respectively. There is a ±180 degree turntable with boundary layer control systems, and interchangeable single belt and 5-belt moving ground plane (MGP) modules. Extensive applications of acoustic treatment in the test section and throughout the wind tunnel circuit provide a hemi-anechoic test environment and low background noise levels. A temperature control system provides uniform and stable air temperature over an operating environment between 10 °C and 50 °C.

The Lockheed Martin Low-Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT) is a closed-return wind tunnel with two solid-wall test sections. This facility originally entered into service in 1967 for aerodynamic research of aircraft in low-speed and vertical/short take-off and landing (V/STOL) flight. Since this time, the client base has evolved to include a significant level of automotive aerodynamic testing, and the needs of the automotive clientele have progressed to include acoustic testing capability. The LSWT was therefore acoustically upgraded in 2016 to reduce background noise levels and to minimize acoustic reflections within the low-speed test section (LSTS). The acoustic upgrade involved detailed analysis, design, specification, and installation of acoustically treated wall surfaces and turning vanes in the circuit as well as low self-noise acoustic wall and ceiling treatment in the solid-wall LSTS.

Underbody vehicle flows are poorly understood given the comparatively small field of research to draw upon; even more so in the case of crosswinds. With the advent of electric and hybrid electric vehicles and their increased cooling demands, there is a need for a link between the aerodynamic flow field and the thermodynamic response. Thus underbody research considering a yawing vehicle was conducted on a Chevrolet Aveo5 hatchback. The vehicle was outfitted with a heat source to provide a baseline analysis along thermocouples, pressure probes and flow visualization tufts. The climatic wind tunnel at the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology's Automotive Centre of Excellence provided video data of the tufts and thermal imaging data of the heat source.

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is the home of the General Motors of Canada Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE), a university owned and operated facility that is funded by the university and the provincial and federal governments of Canada. As such, ACE is available to all automotive manufacturers (OEM's), Tier 1 suppliers, university researchers, or any other industry requiring the need for independent research and development test capability. A large climatic wind tunnel is the signature feature of ACE, which also includes climatic chambers (one of which is a high feature chamber), a climatic 4-post shaker test cell and a hemi-anechoic chamber equipped with a multi-axis shaker table. Some key design features of the climatic wind tunnel include a variable nozzle geometry (from 7 m₂ to 13 m₂), a chassis dynamometer inserted in an 11.7 meter turntable, a boundary layer control system and circuit acoustic treatment for low background noise levels.