Massive San Diego wind tunnel gives USA Luge a boost

It’s August, so it must be luge season. Right?

If you’re a member of Team USA preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, it is. Every day is part of luge season. It’s the Olympic way.

But on Monday an Olympic medal may have been won or lost. And it happened right here in sunny San Diego, where it hasn’t snowed since — well — anyone care to chime in here?

In their annual trek from Lake Placid, N.Y., members of the USA Luge team took over the low speed wind tunnel at the San Diego Air & Space Technology Center, a spot usually reserved for aviation giants like Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Cessna.

In the same space that tests the aerodynamics of scale model fighter jets, cruise missiles and passenger liners, engineers analyzed the drag of two-time Olympic medalist Mark Grimmette’s suit, sled and shoes.

It was all done in the name of speed. In a sport that’s often determined by the smallest fractions of time, minor adjustments make a major difference on the ice.

“Luge races are won, lost and tied to the thousandth of a second,” said Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship for USA Luge — and a 1998 Olympic silver medalist.  “Anything you can do aerodynamically is critical.”

The testing starts when Grimmette takes his position on a sled at the forefront of the wind tunnel, a narrow chamber that expands incrementally as it extends to the back and — when lit under an eerie pale green light — looks like a scene out of a Stanley Kubrick film.

From an adjacent control room, engineers ramp up the wind to 80 mph and more and record data to determine drag. The luge team will then make some minor equipment tweaks and the process is repeated.

If the numbers bear out reduced drag, then viola — they’ve found an edge.

“Think of it as an extremely accurate bathroom scale underneath (Grimmette) that can measure exactly how much wind force is pushing on him,” said Aerotest engineering manager David Sanford. “We’ll take a number and he’ll change suits. He’ll come back and we’ll take another number. If there’s less drag, he’ll go faster down the track when he’s racing.”

It’s that simple. At least the analysis is.

The tunnel itself is a little more complicated. While Grimmete lies in the testing room, the magic happens in a much larger chamber next door. A wooden fan 20 feet in diameter spins at speeds of up to 800 rotations per minute and forces the air into an increasingly smaller space, where it picks up speed.

The air makes a u-turn into testing room, where it is blown out of a series of metal compartments that collectively resemble a honeycomb directly onto the test subject.

That’s where it’s Grimmette’s job to lie absolutely still on his sled.

The massive wooden wind tunnel fan. (Photo by Eric Yates)

“If we’re testing suits, I’m pretty much just a dummy,” Grimmette said. “I’m just trying to get into position and be as quiet as possible… so that the numbers we get are as solid as possible.”

From there, results are fed into computers and read by engineers and luge experts.

Apparently the testing works. USA Luge has made the cross-country trek every year since 2004. The hallway outside the control room is lined with photos of cyclists who perform similar testing in the wind tunnel, Tour de France winners Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador among them.

There are other wind tunnel facilities in the U.S., but arguably none compare to the one that sits right next to Lindbergh Field downtown.

USA Luge happened across the facility when Sheer heard about it from a friend who knew cyclists that used the tunnel.

“They have great staff,” Sheer said. “They have great equipment. They have great methodology. There’s a reason that this caliber of athlete tests here… There’s a reason Lance Armstrong tests here. It’s that valuable.”

Members from the USA Skeleton team, which is using the tunnel on Tuesday, were also in attendance for Grimmette’s testing.

And while the process was all business, there was clear joy in the process and a great deal of mutual respect between the Olympic teams and the aerospace engineers.

While neither side wanted to discuss specifics of their arrangement, Sanford made it clear that their assistance in the testing is rooted in pride and appreciation for the team, not profit.

“They’re testing with us at a reduced rate,” Sanford said. “We’re trying to help out the Olympic team. They don’t have a whole lot of funding. But they’re a bunch of great hard-working guys.”

If Grimmette or any other member of the team ends up on the medal stand in Vancouver, Sanford and the rest of the engineering team are sure to be watching with big grins on their faces, knowing they helped them get there.

Jason Owens is the SDNN sports editor. Email: jason.owens(at)sdnn.com

Tags: Alberto Contador, Array, Boeing, Cessna, Gordy Sheer, Lance Armstrong, Mark Grimmette, Northrop Gromman, San Diego Air & Space Technology Center, San Diego high speed wind tunnel, SDNN, USA Luge

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 11:26 am and is filed under News, Sports . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.