Atmospheric wind tunnel - LHEEA - Centrale Nantes

This open-circuit atmospheric wind tunnel features a test section that is 26 meters long and has a 2m x 2m cross-section, with transparent sidewalls and ceiling, and adjustable floor and ceiling heights. Its centrifugal fan, coupled with a 45kW electric motor, allows for flow speeds of up to 10m/s. Its characteristics make it an exceptional tool for studying atmospheric boundary layer flows and their interactions with urban or forest canopies at a scale of approximately 1/200.

In addition to instruments for measuring the reference parameters of the experiments (reference velocity, flow temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure), this facility is equipped with the following metrological tools:

• A 32-channel data acquisition system associated with 24 thermal anemometers for single or crossed hot-wire probes
• A stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) system consisting of a 200mJ pulsed Nd-YAG laser, two 4-megapixel cameras, along with a dedicated system for synchronization, acquisition, and post-processing
• A drag balance designed to measure the forces acting on canopy elements (< 0.5N)
• A system for measuring unsteady (8 channels) and average (96 channels) wall pressure