Marysville, Ohio – Honda plans to spend $124 million to build a high-tech wind tunnel in near its largest plant and tech center, enhancing design and manufacturing operations at a facility the automaker operates in conjunction with The Ohio State University.
The multifunctional aeroacoustic wind tunnel facility will be housed at Honda’s Transportation Research Center (TRC), in East Liberty, Ohio – part of its Central Ohio stronghold that includes plants in East Liberty and Marysville; a Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville where it makes the Acura NSX; and the Honda R&D Americas Ohio Center in Marysville, Honda’s largest tech center outside of Japan.
“This new facility will further enhance our ability to efficiently create products of the highest quality for our customers,” said Frank Paluch, president of Honda R&D Americas Inc. “It will be integral to our aerodynamic and aeroacoustic R&D activity, which spans from advanced research and computer simulation, through scale-model and full vehicle development, to production vehicle performance assurance. And all of this is being done right here in the U.S.”
The wind tunnel will use an interchangeable belt system capable of testing both production vehicles and racecars. It features a five-belt rolling road system designed for the development of production vehicles and a second, single/wide belt system designed for testing high-performance sports cars and purpose-built race vehicles. Wind speeds of up to 192mph can be produced in the tunnel.
With demand increasing for fuel-efficiency improvements and performance vehicles, Honda is far from alone in investing in wind tunnels to boost design efforts. Earlier this year, Ford Motor Co. announced plans to build a $200 million wind tunnel at its test labs in Southeast Michigan. Like the Honda tunnel, the Ford system uses multiple sizes of conveyor belts to conduct rolling tests on different vehicle sizes and shapes. The Ford tunnel is capable of 200mph, slightly more than the Honda facility.
The Honda aeroacoustic wind tunnel facility will have space for four secure and confidential customer bays, providing the opportunity for use by customers other than Honda.
“This innovative and industry leading asset provides us with another distinct reason for our customers to take advantage of the world-class testing facilities we have in Ohio at TRC,” said Mark-Tami Hotta, president and CEO of the Transportation Research Center.
Honda purchased TRC from the State of Ohio in January 1988, paying $6 million to The Ohio State University’s College of Engineering to establish a transportation research endowment fund. TRC has continued to operate as an independent testing and research facility with surplus funds from the operation of TRC funding other endowments at the College of Engineering. To date, more than $54 million generated by TRC has gone to Ohio State to support and advance transportation research. This relationship is evident in the wind tunnel project as well, with Ohio State investing in faculty, staff, and students to work alongside Honda researchers at TRC.