000 kilowatt hours the performance of a wind tunnel according to the present invention is enhanced relative to that of the prior art while the power consumption is substantially reduced the flow quality in the wind tunnel according to the present invention represents an improvement over the prior art wind tunnel described above the velocity uniformity achieved by the present invention is u00b1 0 5 while that achieved by the prior art wind tunnel is u00b1 2 the temperature uniformity achieved by a wind tunnel according to the present invention is u00b1 1 u00b0 f while that achieved with the wind tunnel according to the present invention is u00b1 2 u00b0 f and the turbulence intensity in the wind tunnel according to the present invention is u2266 1 while the turbulence intensity in the prior art wind tunnel is u2266 4 improved flow quality is becoming increasingly important in the design of environmental automotive wind tunnels because of the increased importance of accurate thermodynamic test results for engine cooling engine management and vehicle interior climate control systems test chamber noise levels for a wind tunnel according to the present invention at 100 mph operating speed are within a range between 80 and 100 db a and are preferably between 80 and 90 db a the results for the wind tunnel according to the prior art at 100 mph are 110 to 115 db a there has been a recent demand for low background.