The study of unsteady aerodynamic phenomena in wind tunnels is supported by gust-generating devices capable of generating adjustable magnitude and periodicity velocity fluctuations in a flowfield. Gusts are typically generated actively by introducing moving vanes to direct the flow, or passively by tailoring the boundary layer growth and shape in the tunnel. The flow facility used here is a student-built closed-return low-speed wind tunnel, with a test section size of 750 mm × 750 mm and a maximum speed of 25 m/s. A two-vane gust generator utilizing NACA0018 airfoil sections of 150 mm chord length was designed and installed upstream of the test section. The flowfield was mapped with the installed vanes with and without gust actuation, utilizing a hot wire system. The tunnel with gust vanes exhibits a spatially uniform baseline turbulence intensity of 5%, with a steady state velocity deficit of 1 m/s in the vane–wake region. Upon introducing the gusting conditions at vane deflection angles of up to ±45°, velocity differences of up to 4 m/s were attained at 18 m/s freestream velocity at oscillation frequencies ranging between 1 Hz and 2 Hz.

The effects of ultraviolet (UV) light and moisture environments on the properties of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites were investigated in this study. Materials included carbon fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CF/PPS), glass fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (GF/PPS), glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene (GF/PP), and glass fiber-reinforced polyethylene terephthalate (GF/PET). Fiber orientation was noted to affect the response of the materials to UV and moisture environments. For CF/PPS, UV exposure led to enhanced unidirectional tensile and flexure properties, and quasi-isotropic compression strength, but reduced in-plane shear properties of cross-ply laminates and the short-beam shear strength of unidirectional laminates. Exposure to moisture had minimal effect on CF/PPS laminates. UV light caused a slight decrease in tensile strength and strain of unidirectional samples of GF/PPS and a slight increase in these properties with various degrees in quasi-isotropic samples. Exposure to moisture was noted to cause a reduction in most of the mechanical properties with various degrees in unidirectional and quasi-isotropic GF/PPS laminates. For GF/PP, exposure to UV and moisture decreased the tensile and compressive strengths of unidirectional and quasi-isotropic laminates. However, a notable increase in flexure strength was observed in both laminates after UV exposure. The GF/PET quasi-isotropic laminates showed reduced tension, compression, and flexure strengths but increased impact resistance and short-beam strength under UV exposure, while moisture decreased in-plane shear properties of cross-ply laminates and increased the glass transition temperature of unidirectional laminates. Vertical burn and surface flammability and smoke generation tests showed high flame resistance of CF/PPS and GF/PPS composites, and less so for GF/PP and GF/PET composites. The findings highlight the various responses of the materials to extreme environments.