China's first compounded wind tunnel dedicated to low-altitude aircraft aerodynamic testing was inaugurated on Wednesday in Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong in the south, marking a major breakthrough in the low-altitude aviation research and development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Wind tunnels are controlled environments used to generate airflow for testing aircraft designs. Compared with outdoor flight tests, wind tunnel experiments are faster and more cost-effective.
"We fix the aircraft to a test platform and let the air flow, creating a relative movement and simulating the conditions of flight in the sky to measure technological parameters," said Sun Liangbao, head of wind tunnel technology at the Guangdong Aerospace Research Academy (GARA), who developed the wind tunnel.
As a hub for drone development in China, Guangdong aims to leverage the new facility to provide efficient, local testing services. The wind tunnel is expected to significantly reduce research and development costs and accelerate technology breakthroughs and commercial applications.
"There were companies who waited for over a year for a testing slot in Harbin. Now, with the wind tunnel launched in the Greater Bay Area, the entire process for wind tunnel experiments, from coordination to testing, takes just three to four months," said Shang Zuming, the director of the wind tunnel testing platform.
Guangdong builds China's first wind tunnel for low-altitude aircraft
