wind tunnel
6
4.4
- noun
- /wɪnd ˈtʌnəl/
- Specialized
:
túnel de viento
- By using the wind tunnel, scientists can study how different shapes affect airflow and drag.
- wind tunnel test
- wind tunnel testing
- supersonic wind tunnel
We were stunt rigging and they've got a wind tunnel there and stunt rigged something for BBC.
- We were stunt rigging and they've got a wind tunnel there and stunt rigged something for BBC.
- So we tried it in a wind tunnel earlier this year and it's basically no aero penalty.
- Took these pieces down to the wind tunnels at Langley and they simulated the wind, the force of the launch.
Examples
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We've made our own fuselage, went to NASA's wind tunnel and found that you could actually form a giant chunk of ice which then fell off the airplane.
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"We're doing wind tunnel studies to evaluate different methods of analysis," he said.
Academic text (2007) -
But it has performed better in my wind tunnel tests than anything else.
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Well, I'm testing it right now in the wind tunnel.
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We will be acquiring a wind tunnel and a 3D printer in the near future.
Academic text (2008) -
It's the reason why models are tested in wind tunnels and not on treadmills.
Blog text (1) -
Designers experimented with various alternative contours in clay, testing each in the wind tunnel.
Academic text (1995) -
The agency's first wind tunnel, a 5-foot-diameter test section, accommodated models up to 3 feet wide.
Academic text (2003) -
One of the two variant shapes, rendered as a one-third-scale clay model, undergoes wind tunnel testing and refinement.
Academic text (1999) -
All designs for supersonic wind-tunnel nozzles and rocket-engine nozzles use the same basic approach today.
Academic text (2005)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'wind' (moving air) and 'tunnel' (an enclosed passage), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes an enclosed passage or chamber where air is moved. The specialised use for testing models is an application of that literal composition, making the compound meaning immediately comprehensible rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
The compound noun wind tunnel comes from the simple image of a long tunnel of moving wind where engineers put a model so air flows around it. That image explains why the term means 'a large space used to test how air moves around' planes, cars, or other objects.