The initial plan of ESTRO project foresaw the launch of a European Call for tender for the assignment of the contract for the wind tunnel test campaign. In order to minimise the risk associated with the launch of a Call for Tender for the selection of the WT provider, considering the technical difficulties related to the model preparation and provision and the Covid pandemia, JU suggested to directly involve a WT provider as part of the consortium. Among the possible WT providers satisfying the proposal requirements, DNW offered to test the model in the LLF WT. An amendment to the project was therefore launched (September 2020) and approved (March2021) to let DNW enter the ESTRO consortium and to reschedule the experimental and CFD activities, taking in consideration the substantial delays experienced by AG2 and GRETEL consortia in finalising the design and in manufacturing the WT model for the test campaign. LDO revised the initial test matrix in November 2021 to match the new technical specifications of the model.
One of the most important objective of ESTRO was to perform a wind tunnel campaign on a scaled model of the LEONARDO Regional 90 seats turboprop A/C wing. A turboprop scaled-size aerodynamic/aero-elastic laminar wing-nacelle model was designed and built by GRETEL and AG2 consortia to perform tests in cruise and in high lift conditions in the laminar LLF Wind Tunnel facility at DNW premises in Marknesse (NL). Technical problems in the manufacture of the model postponed significantly the expected delivery of the model and resulted in a significant delay of the experimental campaign. The WT campaign started on December 8th 20021 and ended on December 23rd 2021. During the campaign, accurate pressure distributions, infrared flow images, wing deformation, wall balance and load control and alleviation measurements were acquired.
Final WT data were made available on the Workspace dedicated to ESTRO on SharePoint (SP) in the first week of April 2022.
Due to a problem found in the data reduction algorithm, deformation data were corrected and updated again in their final version on June 3rd 2022. Data can be retrieved by authorized users on the SP.
On Feburary 21 2023 the closing meeting of ESTRO took place online with the participation of all the consortium partners, the project officer and the project manager.