Wind Tunnel Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Solution (Products and Services), Alignment (Horizontal and Vertical), Airspeed Type (Subsonic, Supersonic, Transonic, and Hypersonic), and Application (Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Transportation, Building Construction & Wind Energy, Training & Simulation, Adventure Sports Skydiving, and Others)

"The wind tunnel market is projected to reach US$ 3,784.56 million by 2028 from US$ 2,706.26 million in 2021. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2021 to 2028.

Wind tunnel experiments are being widely used by architects, engineers, and aerodynamicists to assess a broad range of structures, such as buildings, vehicles, and aircraft designs. Depending on the wind speed that wind tunnels can produce, they are used across multiple industries, such as low subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic. However, physical wind tunnels are being replaced by wind tunnel simulation in aerodynamic testing. Its primary use is to visualize air flows around an object to assess its aerodynamics.

The simulator assists design engineers by optimizing lift and drag, detecting and eliminating high wind speed zones, increasing top speed, and reducing wind noise, thereby optimizing automotive, aerospace, and construction planning operations. Wind tunnel simulation outcomes helps in higher prototyping and manufacturing lead times, operational costs, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations allowing engineers to study the aerodynamic loads and reduce the inaccuracies found in wind tunnel test experiments. Therefore, the rising demand from different sectors positively impacts the wind tunnel market growth.

Cloud-based simulation allows the user to run simulations in parallel to test multiple design iterations or simultaneously investigate different aspects of a design. Several prominent simulation providers and wind testing companies offer a range of advanced cloud-based wind tunnel solutions to meet the rising requirements of aerodynamics testing in multiple industries. Altair introduced HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel, a vertical application designed to improve wind tunnel simulation for the automotive industry. The virtual tunnel provides a friendly, intuitive user environment and an auto-setup process.

Additionally, the simulation results can be incorporated with the high-performance computing systems from within the HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel environment. Koenigsegg, a renowned manufacturer of high-performance supercars, uses the ICON simulation software on a cloud-based-HPC system to reduce wind tunnel testing duration and processes. Simulation allows the company’s designers to access powerful computing resources remotely, thereby reducing hardware expenses and maintenance costs. Therefore, transforming physical wind tunnels towards their virtual counterparts paves the way for future global wind tunnel market trends.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON WIND TUNNEL MARKET

Industrial activities picked pace from the last quarter of 2020 as the wind tunnel market players are experiencing steady growth in demand from end users. Moreover, the huge requirement of wind tunnels in building construction has created a stable demand for wind tunnels globally. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has invoked a rising need for high-quality wind tunnel solutions for electric vehicles as they play a crucial role in aerodynamics testing. Notably, the sales of electric vehicles have been increasing, especially in the USA, China, and Europe, since the COVID-19 crisis. Although the global wind tunnel market plummeted initially due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related regulations, it is expected to gain strong recovery owing to the increasing requirement of wind tunnels across numerous end-use verticals.

The overall wind tunnel market size has been derived using primary and secondary sources. Exhaustive secondary research has been conducted using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the market. The process also serves the purpose of obtaining an overview and forecast for the wind tunnel market concerning all the segments.

Also, multiple primary interviews have been conducted with industry participants to validate the data and gain more analytical insights into the topic. The participants of this process include industry experts such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers, and national sales managers—along with external consultants such as valuation experts, research analysts, and key opinion leaders—specializing in the wind tunnel market.