NST Johor article on 11-Oct-2012

Setting up the first wind tunnel facility

by Mohd Khir Muhammad

NST Johor 11/10/2011

MANY people, even engineers, do not realise that Johor houses a specialised and advanced test facility in the country known as the wind tunnel.

The facility is basically a research and testing tool for aerodynamics – the study of the effects of air moving past solid bodies – usually on scale-model aircraft and cars.

A scaled-model was tested in the wind tunnel before this full scale of the solar car was constructed.

By having a test model with proper measuring instrument in the wind tunnel, the resistance or drag of a car or an aircraft is determined to assist engineers and designers in their work before any full-sized version of car or aircraft is manufactured.

In 1994, I was given the responsibility of leading the setting-up of Malaysia’s first wind tunnel facility to be located at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)’s Aero Lab in Skudai, Johor Baru.

This low-speed wind tunnel test facility, known as UTM-LST, was intended to support the research and scale-model tests in both aeronautics (airplane, helicopter) as well as non-aeronautics (automotive, building) tests.

The wind tunnel is normally determined by the size of its test section and the maximum wind speed it can produce.

As a general rule, we want to have the biggest size and highest wind speed possible so that the test sample can be close to the actual case but, as always, budget is the limiting factor.

Technicians installing a scale model of an aircraft for testing.

The planning and the implementation of this specialised facility is certainly most challenging but also interesting for our project team, especially on convincing the government and other decision-makers on the need for a wind tunnel in this country.

It was the first project of its kind in the country, and no one in Malaysia really had much experience in the design and setting up of the facility.

Mohd Khir Muhammad standing in front of the fan blades inside the wind tunnel.

For UTM-LST, the wind tunnel test section size is 2m wide by 1.5m high by 3m long with the maximum wind speed of about 300kph with good air-flow quality. (In aeronautical terms, wind speeds of 300 kph and below are still considered a low speed!).

This size is sufficient to conduct testing of one eighth-scale of a two-seater training aircraft and a quarter-scale of a passenger car.

The UTM-LST was benchmarked against the German-Dutch Wind Tunnel (DNW), one of the advanced wind tunnel test facilities in Europe to date.

Indonesia has the largest wind tunnel in the Asean region since the late 1980s when it was set up by the former Indonesia president Professor Dr Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, also known B.J. Habibie, a German-trained aero engineer himself.

Professor Habibie, at that time Indonesia’s Research, Science and Technology Minister, was kind enough to allow his wind tunnel team to assist and advise us.

The design and construction began in 1999 and was completed on schedule in 24 months.

Transfer of technology was implemented in all stages of work whereby our project team members were directly attached and worked side by side with the specialists who were experienced engineers from Canada and Europe.

Since fully operational in 2001, the UTM wind tunnel has been conducting tests for industries including recent and future models of Proton cars, Modenas bikes, oil rig models, solar cars, wind turbines, model stadium and buildings, and even decorative road lamp posts.

BMW’s chief aerodynamics expert, Hans Kerschbaum, recently came to see the wind tunnel while he was visiting Singapore.

It was an honour to meet this great man who excitedly shared his 40-year wind tunnel experiences.

I am proud that in 2002 the wind tunnel was accepted as a new member of the exclusive international association of major wind tunnel testing facilities, Subsonic Aerodynamics Testing Association (SATA).

SATA members include wind tunnels of NASA, Boeing, Airbus, Volvo, Honda, BMW, Audi and many others.

I left the Aero Lab in 2004 to work in other engineering fields and missed the official opening ceremony of UTM-LST by then Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in 2005.

This wind tunnel has certainly made a mark in my engineering career, a small but significant contribution to my beloved country and the state of Johor.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the UTM-LST and I am happy to note that Dr Shuhaimi Mansor, my former colleague and a key person in the project team, now heads the UTM-LST.

Next time when you want to have the wind effects on something, do remember our very first wind tunnel.

MOHD Khir Muhammad, 48, chairman of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (Southern branch), was UTM’s Head of Aero Lab from 1994 to 2003 and project leader for the first wind tunnel project of the country.

NST Article , 9-Dec-2010

Two wonderful decades in JB

By Mohd Khir Muhammad,  New Straits Times (Johor Street section) 

 |  Thu, Dec 9 2010

MY first visit to Johor Baru was in 1978 when I was 15 years old.

It was during the school holidays and I had just completed my Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (now known as Penilaian Menengah Rendah) examination.

My late father had just bought a new Mazda car and announced that he was taking us down south to Singapore for a holiday.

I do not know about my siblings Fauzi, Nasir and Amerul, but I was really excited because the furthest we had gone as a family was to Kuala Lumpur and to the east coast.

In Johor Baru, we stayed at the Government Rest House for a few nights.

The rest house was situated where the Thistle Hotel is now. It was a pleasant place to stay at because it overlooked the Straits of Johor.

We went across the Causeway to Woodlands, Singapore, which was famous for canned lychee drinks. I remember my mother bought some kain ela, for making dresses, as it was cheap.

I cannot recall all the sights in Johor Baru, but I left feeling it was a nice holiday spot, especially Pantai Liko where we had a picnic.

But it certainly did not occur to me that I would one day be a "permanent resident" of Johor Baru.

In 1990, my employer, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, relocated from Jalan Gurney (now Jalan Semarak), Kuala Lumpur, to its permanent campus in Skudai.

Of course, being a bachelor, I had mixed feelings about moving from the big city of Kuala Lumpur to a quiet place like Skudai.

Furthermore, it meant that I would be further away from my family in Alor Star, Kedah.

I shared a house in Taman Universiti, Skudai, with a colleague.

Taman Universiti, a small, recently developed township, only had a single lane road at the time. It has since been upgraded to a double carriageway.

Skudai residents used to do their shopping at Taman Ungku Tun Aminah.

Johor Baru has gone through tremendous changes in the last 20 years.

In the old days, the traffic build-up was really annoying. There were so many traffic lights along Jalan Skudai.This is obvious to anyone who exits the North-South Highway at the Skudai toll and experiences a smooth drive through Skudai, Tampoi, Larkin and on to Johor Baru city centre.

Like many people from other states, my colleagues and I found it both strange and amusing to see Johor people enjoying goreng pisang with soy sauce for tea.

Even though Johor Baru was a small town, there were many interesting entertainment outlets. The famous live music joints included The M16 at Merlin Tower and Mechita Club at Straits Views.

A club called Juwita in Jalan Serampang was a nice place to enjoy live music. I remember hanging out there with my colleagues and listening to famous singers of the 1960s such as Hasnah Harun and S. Jibeng.

Satay Wak Radol in Kempas along the Pasir Gudang Highway was famous for its chunky and juicy satay.

In 1993, I married my wife, Noor Khaida Wati Mohd Faiyudi. Of Javanese descent, she was born in Johor Baru. Her mother's side of the family was from Stulang Darat, Johor Baru, and her father's family was from Pontian.

We rented a house in Jalan Tarom, Johor Baru, which is only a five-minute drive from the city centre.

Once a week my wife and I, and a few close friends would go to the Mee Rebus Lan Janggut stall, at the Komtar Building car park in Jalan Tun Razak.

Mee rebus Haji Wahid was famous, but we preferred to eat at Lan Janggut because of the keropok.

The late Lan Janggut had learnt to make delicious mee rebus while working for Haji Wahid.

He had his own way of preparing the noodles - using both hands, he would pour exactly the right amount of soy sauce and vinegar.

Johor was unique at the time as the weekend for the public sector fell on Thursdays and Fridays, while banks and the private sector had their weekend on Saturdays and Sundays.

I found it convenient as I could run errands and do my banking on Fridays.

In the late 1990s, the state government changed the weekend for the public sector to Saturday and Sunday to be consistent with the practices of the Federal Government.

My late mother-in-law's favourite kopitiam was Huamui restaurant in Jalan Trus.

It's famed for Hainanese food, especially huamui mee (Hainanese noodle) and Western meals like grilled chicken chop and beef steak.

I would say it was Johor Baru's equivalent of the Coliseum Restaurant in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur.

To this day, my wife and I sometimes have our breakfast of roti bakar and, chips and egg at Huamui on Sunday.

Yong Nasi Padang, in Jalan Wong Ah Fook, was famous for its otak lembu masak lemak, which we would buy every time my parent in-laws visited us.

If we wanted to eat Chinese food, we would visit the Straits View Gardens restaurant.

During weekends, we would exercise at Kebun Bunga and Padang Istana Besar. We would complete the 5km jogging track and run up to the top of the hill where the Johor Military Force's mini orchestra would be performing for the public.This was before there was any development in Danga Bay (right). In those days, there was a live band at the open-air restaurant.

It has been 20 years since I moved to Johor Baru and I have to say it is better to live here than in Kuala Lumpur.

My youngest brother Amerul Muner is also living in Johor Baru and married to a local girl.

The only complaint that I have about Johor Baru is it is a bit far from my hometown Alor Star. If it were not for the distance, I would definitely say that Johor Baru is home.

Mohd Khir Muhammad, 47, is the chairman of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Southern Branch. He stays in Bukit Jepun, Jalan Mariamah, with his wife.