this year.
For the past 60 years, a research resource on the southeast side of campus has steadily been at work, contributing untold advancements to the world of manufacturing.
Since its completion in 1948, the Walter H. Beech Memorial Wind Tunnel has been the site of many research undertakings. On average, staff at the tunnel complete 15 to 25 projects a year. Recently, much work has been done investigating the effects of ice accretion on aircraft wings.
The tunnel, says John W. Laffen ’90, director of Aerodynamic Laboratories at the National Institute for Aviation Research, is an “engineering icon” on campus. “The tunnel is a learning tool for College of Engineering students and a valuable resource for the Wichita aviation industry and many other industries influenced by aerodynamic design.”
The brainstorm of two noted aviation pioneers, Walter Beech, former president of Beech Aircraft Co., and Dwane Wallace, former president of Cessna Aircraft Co., the tunnel has been used to operate tests for every Wichita aircraft manufacturer, aiding them in the development of innovative aircraft.
Four years after the tunnel was finished, its fleet of surplus aircraft engines, which served as its motor, were replaced by a 1500-horsepower, 2300-volt electric motor. Ten years later, an IBM punch-card machine was installed to record measurements.
The tunnel then remained largely unchanged until 1977 when Wallace Hall was built and another major computer upgrade occurred. More software and procedural upgrades were made in the 1980s. In 1992, NIAR received $500,000 worth of grants from WSU and the National Science Foundation, and made three improvements to the tunnel.
The biggest upgrade was finished in January 2005 at a cost of $6 million — and involved a complete transformation of the facility. Wichita State is in elite company with its tunnel. There are only four other universities with such a resource: Texas A&M, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland and MIT.
Despite the tunnel’s prolific impact, Laffen says it is not well known outside engineering communities. “It tends to takes most people by surprise when I tell them I work in a wind tunnel,” he says.
