Highway fuel reduction tests

Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL), Navistar, and the Department of Energy conduct a smoke test demo in the NFAC 80-foot-by-120-foot wind tunnel test section. The idea behind the project was to find a way to reduce fuel consumption at highway speeds by 10 percent, helping the commercial trucking industry and, by association, trickling down to consumer projects, cutting costs on fuel, and reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.

The continued use of the facility highlights the fact that even in the age of supercomputers and sophisticated computer modeling, wind tunnel testing is still essential to understand the realistic forces at work in aerodynamics. While the use of computers allows modeling and the introduction of a broader range of test conditions, because of their ability to produce highly accurate results in complex situations, NASA says wind tunnels like the Ames facility will continue to play an important role in the development and testing of new aircraft and a variety of other aerospace vehicles in the future.