ACE (Aero Concept Engineering) is a French company based in Magny-Cours and which provides a complete aerodynamic consultancy and development service. It includes a wind tunnel, a CFD expertise, CAD design, 3D digitalization, machining and composites design.
Wind tunnel specification
| Racing car configuration | Standard configuration | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Type | Single return closed-circuit | Single return closed-circuit |
| Test section | Shape | Rectangular | Rectangular |
| Dimensions | Length 4750 mm,Width 2300 mm,Height 2200 mm | Length 4750 mm,Width 2300 mm,Height 2200 mm | |
| Contraction ratio | 7 | 7 | |
| Turbulence level (%) | 0.2 at 40 m/s | 0.2 at 40 m/s | |
| Rolling road | Dimensions | Length 3010 mm,Width 1500 mm | – |
| Speed | Up to 40 m/s | – | |
| Temperature | regulated | – | |
| Boundary layer | Suction | Yes | Yes |
| Fan | Power | 250 kW | 250 kW |
| Speed | Up to 40 m/s | Up to 40 m/s | |
| Models | Scale | Up to 60% | 100% |
| Strut | Adjustable in X | – | |
| Wheel supports | Adjustable in X and Y | – | |
| Yaw | + / – 6° | From 0 to 20° Automatic | |
| Steer | 7° | – | |
| Pitch, roll | Remote control (software) Laser controlled | Remote control (software) | |
| Measurement | Balances | Internal chassis balance 6 components,Additional balance 3 components,Wheel balances (drag) | Platform-balance |
| Pressure | ZOC 64x | ZOC 64x | |
| Wheel speed | Yes | Yes | |
| Softwares | EOLE VIEW,Live-timing results,graphs,analysis,test comparisons,… | DRAGLIVE,Live-timing results,on screen and on the wall of the test section,automatic saving on files and DVD. | |
The analysis of test results will not be limited to treatment of aerodynamic forces and can also help identifying the flow structure.
The wind-tunnel data acquisition system is associated to in-house developed softwares.It allows:
- the most appropriate kind of runs,
- real-time visualization of the results,
- personalized output files or documents.
Pressure sensors
With the multiplexed pressure sensor, associated to homemade specific software, the user can measure up to 64 values at a time. Then, the flow can be studied on every part of the vehicle, external (wing, flap, underbody …) or internal (cooling systems).
Characterization of the cooling
In parallel with the wind-tunnel, Aero Concept Engineering has an aerodynamic test bed for testing cooling elements or internal flow of small dimensions. It also allows models to size the radiators in order to obtain adequate permeability, compared to a scale model.
The flow visualization
The flow visualization is an experimental means of examining the flow pattern around a body or over its surface. The primary advantage of such a method is the ability to provide a description of a flow over a model without complicated data reduction and analysis.
The PIV
The Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an optical method which consists in recording images of illuminated particles within the flow-field. The PIV technique provides a quantitative, instantaneous, whole-field visualization and two-dimensional description of the flow.
Source: ACE
Romain’s opinion:
A wind tunnel is not a facility owned by every manufacturer or motorsport team. Hence, they need to rent services in facilities like ACE one. It goes with some expertise that is mandatory for pre-processing the tests, running it and post processing it. How big the competition is in the aerodynamic testing field? On which criteria the choice of a partner is made (cost, experience, test capabilities …)?
