The New Interchangeable Three-belt System in the IVK Full-Scale Wind Tunnel of University of Stuttgart: Design and First Results

Felix Wittmeier; Armin Michelbach; Jochen Wiedemann; Victor Senft

doi:10.4271/2016-01-1581

With its recent wind tunnel upgrade, FKFS installed the first interchangeable three-belt / five-belt-system (FKFS first^®) in a full scale automotive wind tunnel. With the five-belt system, which today is a state-of-the-art ground simulation technique, the system is ideally suited for production vehicle development work. The five-belt system offers high flexibility, quick access to the underfloor and vehicle fixation, and setting the vehicle’s ride height by the restraint device. The first results of the five-belt system have already been published in SAE 2015-01-1557 [1].

The three-belt system on the other hand, offers a much more sophisticated ground simulation technique which is necessary especially for sports and racing cars. For such vehicles with very low ground clearances, it is important to have a more accurate ground simulation, in order to capture the same aerodynamic modes of action and response as on the road. In difference to a single belt system, the measurement of forces on the three-belt system is more accurate, since the center belt is not part of the balance system. This results in a lower static balance load and smaller parasitic forces.

This paper describes the design of the interchangeable three-belt / five-belt system and presents first results for different vehicles including passenger cars and race cars.

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The New Interchangeable Three-belt System in the IVK Full-Scale Wind Tunnel of University of Stuttgart: Design and First Results 2016-01-1581

SAE MOBILUS