GM Wind Tunnel/Cruze Eco

[Blue Angel]

I'm new to the forum, please forgive if this is a re-post (chances are it may be).

Surfing around I found a nice article about GM's Wind Tunnel in Warren, MI.:

General Motors' wind tunnel turns 30, more important than ever

The article was written around the tunnel's 30th anniversary in 2010 and demonstrates what an ENORMOUS undertaking it is to design and construct such a facility.

There are also a bunch of nice high-res photos taken inside the tunnel, a bunch of which demonstrate smoke trail testing on a Cruze Eco. These images might be of some interest to people looking to understand how air moves around a vehicle at speed.

I spent several nights/mornings working in this tunnel when I worked for a supplier. I held a GM Design Engineer position for an integrated sealing products supplier and was present in the tunnel for several tests to validate changes to our products, making sure the changes did not negatively impact wind noise. The tunnel was booked solid 7 days a week, and all of my parts were tested between 2am and 6am, and scheduling was done several weeks to months in advance.

The acoustic insulation inside the test chamber is really impressive... it is really eerie to be standing there with a light breeze blowing in absolute silence, and when you speak there are no detectable sounds reflected from the walls.

For those who haven't seen this article before, enjoy!

[Frank Lee]

Ha- it did seem to me you knew more than the average bear about these things!

I have seen that article but don't know if it was on EM or not.

[Blue Angel]

Just another little tidbit in case anyone is interested; a new commercial about the Cruze and it's active aero shutters. It's not done in the GM wind tunnel, but there is a short clip showing the shutters close:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_af2eTM_04

[Blue Angel]

And another actually demonstrating smoke trail testing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyqZkLM_weI

[Blue Angel]

Another one, part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES4SjyPDpmA

And part 2, a basically un-narated version of part 1 with a few more detailed smoke trail demos. Nice open/closed demo of the lower grille shutters as well as some nice wheel well flow shots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmRRS...endscreen&NR=1

[Blue Angel]

And a video showing the new Automotive Center of Excellence built at UOIT in Oshawa, Ontario; a collaborative effort between GM and UOIT. I went to school at Durham College and graduated just before they opened the University. They share the same campus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wURM4biUmDg

[Blue Angel]

Showing some of the fine-tuning that goes on, and some Volt footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzm2UjzoCc0

[Blue Angel]

This one shows the optimization of the Camaro body for the ZL1 model. Nice closeup smoke trails shown in the wheel well areas and the front hood vent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AwiYZE0cbg

Neat comment in this video regarding the team spending their nights in the wind tunnel. This was also my experience; every time I was in the tunnel it was a block of time between 2am and 6am.

[ennored]

Stumbled across some CTS coupe video today. Fits this thread well, I think. Good shots of how the air flows down the back window.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76J_HvYYnRc

Got to do some work in the GM wind tunnel few years ago. Not night shift, but on a Sunday if I recall...