Automotive Engineering - May 2022 - 13

COVER STORY
HONDA
AIRS IT OUT
Aeroacoustic NVH testing is readily
accommodated in Honda's all-new wind tunnel.
Honda's aerodynamic and NVH development gets a breath of fresh air from its
first full-scale wind tunnel in North America.
by Bill Visnic
A
cknowledging the twin priorities of aerodynamic and NVH
optimization in the increasingly electrified passenger-vehicle
future, Honda in late March inaugurated its first full-scale
wind tunnel in North America. The $124-million Honda
Automotive Laboratories of Ohio (HALSO) facility, built on the grounds
of Ohio's sprawling Transportation Research Center is conveniently
adjacent to Honda's longstanding product-development and manufacturing
hub that spans the East Liberty and Marysville areas.
" Conveniently located, " isn't the half of it. Prior to the opening of
the HALO wind tunnel - which currently is running a single shift but
will be " fully operational " by fall 2022 - Honda's U.S. operations
rented wind-tunnel time in a variety of locations because the company's
only full-scale tunnels are in Japan and Europe. Shipping
prototype vehicles and accompanying engineers and technicians to
rented tunnels is an enormous direct cost, said Mike Unger, lead
manager for the new facility. But maybe worse is the detrimental
impact on ever-tightening vehicle-development timelines. It all can
be a huge hassle, leading Honda some years ago to begin planning
HALO's wind tunnel in Ohio.
It is " the world's most-advanced wind tunnel, " Unger flatly claimed
during a media walkthrough of the 110,000-sq.ft. (33,528-sq.m) facility
that houses the one-eighth-mile tunnel itself as well as a variety
of no-prying-eyes " customer " workbays to serve the third-party entities
envisioned to lease the facility as Honda reverses the renterlandlord
relationship. Then again, Unger concedes, given the relative
global scarcity of full-scale automotive wind tunnels, just about every
totally new tunnel becomes the de facto world's best.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
In the roughly two-year project, the designer and
general contractor for HALO's wind tunnel was Dallas,
Texas-based Jacobs Technology. The College of
Engineering at The Ohio State University reported last
year that as Honda was evaluating the wind tunnel project,
company personnel visited Pininfarina in Italy and
met Antonello Bianco, a wind-tunnel expert and currently
senior researcher at OSU's Center for Automotive
Research, who also advised Honda on the project.
Rolling-road modularity
A central feature of Honda's new wind tunnel is the
novel " modular " moving ground plane ( " rolling road " )
system that allows for quick, four-hour changes between
the five-belt rolling-road dynamometer and a
wide-belt rolling road. The belts, used to mimic the
action of the vehicle in motion, are sheets of stainlesssteel
composite less than 1mm thick. Vehicles that are
more or less conventional (i.e. crossovers, SUVs and
other vehicles with everyday ground clearance) are
tested on the five-belt module, one at each wheel and
a wider belt running down the underbody of the vehicle.
Special vents assure the flowing air isn't collecting
in unwanted areas, particularly in front of the moving
wheels. And to also ensure the least amount of
rolling resistance, the vehicle's axles are disconnected
May 2022 13
HONDA
Automotive Engineering - May 2022

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