Construction of a huge wind tunnel has started in Ankara, Turkey that once completed will be used to test the aerodynamics of its indigenously developed fighter aircraft, the TF-X.
The subsonic wind tunnel is being built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and will be the second largest in Europe. It will accommodate three interchangeable test sections test sections: a 6.4m x 4.8m (21ft x 15.7ft) large solid wall, open-jet test sections and 4.7m x 3.9m (15ft x 13ft) small solid-wall test sections.
Wind tunnel company Aiolos were contracted by TAI in May 2019 to design the tunnel.
The wind tunnel is intended to be used in the development of indigenous, rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft.
The tunnel will be equipped with measurement and sensing devices for aerodynamic and acoustic testing. It will also feature an integrated moving ground belt system to recreate the aerodynamics of aircraft when landing and taking-off.
The wind tunnel facility will also host the production, integration and instrumentation of the models to be tested.
Turkish Aerospace Industries president and CEO Temel Kotil said, “We are building the second largest subsonic wind tunnel facility in Europe. We keep working to achieve our biggest project Turkish Fighter. Our facility will be the only facility in Turkey in this field with the capability to allow aeroacoustic testing.”
