BAE engineers use wind tunnel technology to help top Paralympic athletes

Airbus’ wind tunnel facility at Filton employed to analyse efficiency of body positions

Engineers from BAE Systems have used wind tunnel technology at Airbus’ dedicated facility in Filton, Bristol, to help two of Britain’s top wheelchair athletes analyse the efficiency of their body positions in a race.

Athletes Shelly Woods, a Paralympic silver and bronze medallist in Beijing, and David Weir, a Paralympic Games multi-medallist and three-times winner of the London Marathon, each spent a full day testing in the wind tunnel. Computational fluid dynamics data gathered from the sessions are now being used by UK Sport to review the aerodynamic efficiency of the athletes’ seating position in the chair to highlight the optimal racing position for different situations on the track.

The tests were the first phase of a project to help wheelchair athletes improve their performance with the support of technology. Another aspect of the project, which is set to run until 2011, will be to examine the overall design of the chair to see where improvements could be made. The assessment will encompass a wide range of factors affecting performance, from the material the chair is made from, right down to the ease with which it can be stored, set up and maintained.