that when this thing crashed all you heard about was how a NASA space probe crashed. Had it worked perfectly it would have been identified as being from JPL.
In motorsports there is a strong interaction with the ground that isn't there with an aircraft in mid-air. A number of wind tunnels are being built with "rolling road" surfaces. The airflow generated by the rotating wheels is pretty significant and difficult to accurately simulate computationally.
Of course, even if you have a good computational model you have to test it against the "real world" eventually, and the point of using wind tunnels in motorsports is so that you minimize the aero-related surprises at the track.
Slashdot Mirror
that when this thing crashed all you heard about was how a NASA space probe crashed. Had it worked perfectly it would have been identified as being from JPL.
In motorsports there is a strong interaction with the ground that isn't there with an aircraft in mid-air. A number of wind tunnels are being built with "rolling road" surfaces. The airflow generated by the rotating wheels is pretty significant and difficult to accurately simulate computationally. Of course, even if you have a good computational model you have to test it against the "real world" eventually, and the point of using wind tunnels in motorsports is so that you minimize the aero-related surprises at the track.