Infinium in the Wind Tunnel

Yesterday, I went with four other team members to perform aerodynamic testing at the Jacobs Engineering wind tunnel. In preparation for testing, we taped bits of yarn to the car to help visualize the air flow over the body.  After securing the car to the platform, it was time to begin our testing. Being an Aerospace Engineering student, I was excited to be able to do some hands on testing, so I stayed in the tunnel for the first shakedown.  It was pretty cool.  The yarn we attached to the car allowed us to see how the air moved over the car, and what areas need to be improved.  After taking some notes, we moved on to using the smoke wand.  Smoke is another way to visualize flow over the car, but it allows you to analyze specific areas in more detail.  Using smoke was the most exciting part of the testing, but I can’t discuss our results because they are top secret : )

After smoke testing, it was time for several yaw sweeps, which allowed me to sit down and watch the Red Wings game 7.  Unfortunately, the game didn’t work out as well as our wind tunnel testing.  I’m proud to say Infinium is the most aerodynamic car in Michigan Solar Car history.  Thank you to all of the staff at Jacobs for attending to all of needs and helping us perform quality testing.