Services and Rates

Effective January 1, 2012

Overview

The University of Washington Aeronautical Laboratory (UWAL) is a subsonic wind tunnel testing organization. As a self-supporting university auxiliary enterprise,, UWAL charges its customers in order to pay its employees and to fund maintenance and upgrades to its facilities. This guide describes the most common services UWAL provides for its customers at UWAL’s main facility, the Kirsten Wind Tunnel. UWAL also has access to other facilities and is capable of providing additional services. Please contact UWAL if you have special testing requirements.

Service	Commercial Rate
Occupancy (minimum: 9 hours per day)	$470 per hour
Overtime Increment	$100 per hour
Idle-Time	$250 per hour
Electronic Pressure Scanning (EPS)
EPS Setup and Usage	$2500
EPS Usage	Unlimited, but it requires Occupancy
Powered Model Testing
Setup	call
Variable AC Generator Usage	$100 per power-on hour
Pretest Ground Plane Setup
Vehicle Ground Plane	$3000
2D Testing
2D-Wall Pretest Installation	call
2D-Wall Usage	$100 per wind-on hour
Deliverables
Test Report	$250
Extra Hardcopy Test Reports	$100 each
Extra CD or DVD	$100 each
Custom Services
Software Programming	$100 per hour
Electronics Support	$100 per hour
Machine Shop Labor	$100 per hour
Other
Consumables	Cost plus %16 plus sales tax

Minimum Charge

The minimum charge per shift is the shift length hours in the Work Agreement times the combination of Occupancy and Idle-Time making up the shift.  Note the Idle-Time Policy below.

Tunnel Occupancy

Tunnel Occupancy begins with test section preparation for model installation and ends with model removal and test section restoration to the standard aircraft-testing configuration. The standard business hours are 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding University of Washington holidays. The shift length can be extended from the nine-hour standard to ten (or twelve if current staffing level permits) hours per day under most circumstances if
UWAL is provided written notice at least two-days in advance. The Tunnel Occupancy Rate will be charged for the entire amount of each scheduled shift under most circumstances.

Tunnel Occupancy includes the following:

• Tunnel rental including use of UWAL PC's for viewing data and doing test-related tasks.
• Personnel to operate the tunnel, reduce the data, and assist with model changes.
• Support for force & moment data acquisition, flow visualization, digital photographs and video.
• Reasonable amounts of office supplies.
• Use of UWAL Plotting and Wind Tunnel Data Organizer software packages.
• Preliminary test data, digital images, and run logs on compact disk (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM) in PC format, prepared at the conclusion of the test.
• Final test data, digital images, and run logs on compact disk (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM) in PC format, following completion of final data processing, if needed.

Overtime Policy

Overtime occurs whenever testing runs beyond the scheduled shift, or whenever testing is scheduled for a Saturday, Sunday, or University of Washington holiday. Overtime charges are in addition to Tunnel Occupancy charges. Overtime charges will be waived for time used to recover from Downtime. UWAL cannot guarantee that Overtime will be available.

Idle-Time Policy

Occasionally customers may find themselves unable to continue with their test campaign.  Perhaps a required model part is temporarily unavailable or the test matrix was completed ahead of schedule.  If all UWAL-provided services have ceased and the situation is such that UWAL personnel can work on other projects, then the Company representative may request a switch from Tunnel Occupancy to Idle-Time.  Idle-Time is only allowed for durations of one hour or longer.

Electronic Pressure Scanning

UWAL has an Electronic Pressure Scanning (EPS) system, which is ideal for measuring large numbers of pressures. There is a per-test setup charge and a wind-on usage charge. EPS usage may be scheduled for an entire test, or only for specific portions of a test, at the customer’s discretion. Please see the Kirsten Wind Tunnel Technical Guide for more information. If you would like to use EPS during your test please contact UWAL to discuss your pressure measurement objectives.

Powered Model Testing - Electric

Due to their infrequent usage, operation of the variable AC generators for Powered Model Testing needs to be verified each time before UWAL commits to making them available.  Call for status.  This equipment includes an Auxiliary Motor-Generator Set, which is suitable for powering high power density induction motors that can be placed in wind tunnel models.  For powered model testing there is a per-test setup charge and a power-on usage charge.  Charges for wiring and cooling water tubing may apply too.  Model power usage may be scheduled for an entire test, or only for specific portions of a test, at the customer’s discretion.  Please see the Kirsten Wind Tunnel Technical Guide for more information.  Contact UWAL to discuss your testing requirements.

Powered Model Testing - Combustion Engines

It is possible to do test runs with a test article’s combustion engine running.  Due to associated health hazards such as carbon monoxide exposure, a Standard Operating Procedure is must be followed that includes time for ventilation and requires that carbon monoxide levels in the test section and model deck drop to 25 ppm or less before personnel are allowed to work in those areas.  There is no extra charge for this type of testing, but regular Occupancy Charges continue to accrue while ventilating (except for ventilation time that happens after the end of the standard shift).  Contact UWAL to discuss your testing requirements.

Optional Pretest Ground Plane Setup

Sometimes UWAL may agree to install a ground plane prior to customer arrival for a fixed price, depending on tunnel availability. If available then his offers two advantages for UWAL customers. First, the fees have been set slightly below the expected Occupancy costs that would have otherwise been incurred if the ground plane had been installed during the test. And, since the price is fixed, this protects UWAL’s customers from installation time variances.

2D Testing

As with ground plane testing, UWAL may agree to install the 2D-Walls prior to customer arrival for a fixed price, depending on tunnel availability. There is also a wind-on usage charge for all 2D-Testing.

See the Technical Guide to the Kirsten Wind Tunnel for descriptions of additional services.

Deliverables

Most customers choose to have UWAL write a formal report documenting the test. Purchase of a test report includes printing and shipping of two hardcopies of the test report along with a compact disk (CD or DVD) containing a digital version of the report in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, along with all of the test data and images. Additional hardcopies of the test letter and / or compact disks (with or without a test letter) may also be ordered prior to invoicing.

Downtime Policy

Downtime occurs whenever UWAL is responsible for a problem that takes more than 15 minutes to resolve and that prevents proceeding with the test. UWAL does not charge Tunnel Occupancy or Overtime rates during Downtime. Note that activities that are a part of UWAL’s standard operating procedures, such as calibration routines or tunnel checkouts, are not considered Downtime.

UWAL makes reasonable efforts to ensure that its facilities are operational during scheduled tests. In the event that Downtime occurs, the facility will attempt to recover lost test time by offering additional test time, if available. For example, if the downtime causes a delay of one entire shift and no additional days are available after the scheduled end of test, then one option is to work extended (12-hour) shifts for the remainder of the test. UWAL cannot guarantee recovery of lost test time.

This example cost estimate is for a customer interested in conducting a wind tunnel test of an aircraft. Electronic Pressure Scanning (EPS) data will be collected during some of the runs in addition to standard force and moment data. The proposed test matrix totals 150 wind-on runs (each run is a set of test points where only one parameter is varied, such as the angle of attack or sideslip.) The test matrix also calls for 30 model configuration changes. The customer wants a test report and for UWAL to supply trip dots.

Installation Time: 6 hours

Actual model installation times vary quite a bit depending on model complexity and the model manufacturer’s familiarity with UWAL’s model support systems. Sometimes it’s as short as 2 hours, other times it’s 2 days. For this example, 6 hours is used as a rough estimate.

Wind-On Time For Data Runs: 18.5 hours

Assumes an average wind-on time of 7-8 minutes per run, including ramp up and ramp down. Run durations depend on number of test points and how much time EPS zeroes /cals add to data acquisition. Runs typically last 4-10 minutes at UWAL.

Wind-On Time For Flow-Viz Runs: 2 hours

The time needed for Flow-Viz varies greatly. Smoke flow takes 30-60 minutes to set up, China Clay requires time for clean up, Mini-Tuft runs take about 60 seconds per test point for the photography, etc., etc.

Model Change Time: 10 hours

Assumes model changes take 18 minutes on average. Note that some model changes may take several hours.

Tunnel Checkout and Daily Calibrations: 2.5 hours

There are a few daily tasks that wind tunnel personnel have to take care of, such as running a Bal Cal twice per day, checking the tunnel circuits, and inspecting fan blades. Much of this occurs while customers are working on their models, but even so, plan on about 15-30 minutes per day for these tasks. They are considered part of Occupancy. If concerned, UWAL can make Work Agreements for 8 hours per day at $528.75 per hour.

Contingency Time: 2 hours

If a test plan is so tight that it cannot include a couple of contingency hours, then consider contracting for longer shifts or more days..

Model Removal: 4 hours

Total Time Required: 45 hours (or 5 days at 9 hours/day)

Tunnel Rental: $21,150 (45 Occupancy hours at $470/hour)
EPS Set Up and Usage: $2,500
25 Feet of Trip Dots, including sales tax and UW's 16% overhead: $325
Test Report: $250

Total: 24,225.00 USD