Wind Tunnel

wind tunnel is a piece of test equipment used by designers, scientists, and engineers to study the effects of air flowing around aircraft, rockets, missiles, automobiles, and even buildings. Every modern aircraft makes its first flight in a wind tunnel. Instead of the aircraft moving through the air, the aicraft is held still and the air moves around it.

Wind tunnel tests help designers and engineers to find problems with a design and to test solutions without risking a pilot in test flights and without the expense of building a full-size aircraft.

Most wind tunnels are not big enough to hold an entire aircraft. A small and very accurately built model of an air­craft may be used, or just part of an aircraft. Wind tunnels vary greatly in size and airspeed, but they have the same basic parts.