The Vienna Climatic Wind Tunnel operated by Rail Tec Arsenal provides the opportunity to investigate the impact of weather on vehicles and components under realistic operating conditions. Any weather conditions can be produced at the push of a button - from intense solar radiation through to snow, rain and ice. The combination with wind, load and drive cycle simulations allows the implementation of realistic test scenarios.

In order to boost the competitiveness of public transport the thermal comfort for passengers gains center stage of performed tests. Thermal comfort is achieved when passengers perceive the air temperature, humidity, air movement, and heat radiation of their surroundings as ideal and would not prefer warmer or colder air or a different humidity level.

Climatic tests help to and optimise improve thermal comfort, safety, availability and energyefficiency. RTA offers the simulation of realistic operating conditions incl. extreme climatic conditions to perform a variety of tests. The operated facility is specially designed for rail vehicles.

Functional tests of cirital components improve the safety of rail vehicles. If the functioning is  guaranteed even under extreme weather conditions the reliability and availability both benefit from that. Passengers profit from punctuality whereas the operating company can reduce its maintenance expenses.

In the recent years RTA enlarged its compentence in the field of aviation. Envolved in various R&D projects a woldwide unique testing facility has been developed, usabe for e.g. realistic flight tests through icing clouds on the ground.

Right after traction the air conditioning system is the second highest energy consumer of a rail vehicle. Heating in winter and cooling in summer need to provide utmost thermal comfort for passengers. RTA developed a standard test cycle in the climatic wind tunnel to investigate the energyefficiency.

"Quality in any weather." The Climatic Wind Tunnel Vienna is one of the leading testing institutes in the area of climatic tests for rail vehicles due to its decades of know how and the unique facility. Apart from qualitative test performance, an up to date equipment, know how transfer with other experts and development of new testing possibilities are a matter of course at RTA.

Thanks to this mobile icing rig, the longest climatic wind tunnel in the world can now be converted into the world’s largest icing wind tunnel for aircraft. This enables customer specific tests as well as certification tests for flying through clouds.

Modern road and rail vehicles must meet high demands in terms of safety, reliability and availability as also thermal comfort and environmental friendliness. Proper functioning under extreme climatic conditions plays a key role in this context.  Tests in the climatic wind tunnel are therefore of major importance for preventive quality assurance in vehicle development and modification.

In addition to ongoing operations, a third preparation hall was added between September 2020 and December 2021, the office space was expanded, and the control room was modernized. The official opening took place on 24.3.2022.

With a roller rig for road vehicles the small climatic wind tunnel also fits for special road industry tests. Climatic comfort inside the vehicle can be invstigated and tests on critical components help to improve the functionality under extreme climatic conditions.

Between September 2020 and Dezember 2021 RTA had been under contruction. Due to increased space requirements a third preparation hall had been added next to the existing building. Moreover office space was added and a modernisation of the entrance and control room area took place - Ready to "take off"!