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Audi's new full scale aeroacoustic wind tunnel is under full operation now. The new facility is designed for full scale automotive testing of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics for vehicles up to 3 m2 frontal area at wind speeds up to 300 kph. The highlights are the unique ground simulation system with boundary layer suction and a 5-belt-system, and the extremely low background noise of only 60 dB(A) at 160 kph. First the background of the project is illustrated and the need for the special features of the tunnel is deduced form the industrial requirements. Then an overview of the facility design is given with a detailed description of the key technical components. The calibration of the self-correcting test section will be discussed and the physical background for it will be examined more closely. For the calibrated wind tunnel the results of two correlation tests including open jet as well as closed wall wind tunnels show a reasonable conformity.

The out-of-flow background noise spectrum in the test section of the full-scale low-noise automobile wind tunnel facility of BMW Technik GmbH in Munich showed a pronounced hump around 2 kHz Although this excess noise component was audible, it did not interfere with the automobile flow noise studies conducted in the tunnel An experimental study was performed to identify the source mechanism. It was found that the excess noise is generated by small cavities in the face side of the impeller blade tips When the cavities were closed the excess noise component completely dissappered The peak spectral level of the fan noise was reduced by as much as 30 dB The overall out-of-flow level reduction in the test section was 3 dB(A).