RUAG’s Large Wind Tunnel Emmen (LWTE) in Switzerland has been running since 1946. To mark its 80th anniversary, Aerospace Testing International editor Ben Sampson toured the facility and interviewed Andreas Hauser, head of aerodynamics at RUAG, to find out how a wartime-era tunnel is still winning work from the industry’s newest aircraft developers.
Construction of LWTE started in 1944 and the tunnel was fully operational by 1946. The original concrete structure remains in service; almost everything inside it has been renewed. The LWTE is a closed-circuit, continuous, atmospheric tunnel with a 23ft x 16ft (7m x 5m) test section, 49ft (15m) long, making it one of the largest in Europe. Two electric motors with a combined 3MW drive a counter-rotating set of eight-bladed propellers, giving a maximum speed of 152mph (68m/s, Mach 0.2) and a unit Reynolds number of about 4.5 million per meter.
During the interview Hauser explains why RUAG powers its wind tunnel models with hydraulic motors and what makes eVTOL testing different to conventional fixed wing aircraft.
He also sets out the case for physical testing in an era of increasingly capable simulation and outlines what comes next, including faster and more precise measurement technology.
Filmed at RUAG Aerodynamics, Emmen, Switzerland.
