Back in August we had the pleasure of visiting the Auto Research Center in Indianapolis, IN to perform product testing in their wind tunnel. You can read more about our trip on our blog, where we have recapped our product testing. We constructed a 'lawn" stage that we took to ARC Indy, which was installed into their wind tunnel testing platform. There were two technicians assisting with our setup and testing. We performed tests in virtually the same manner for each product, starting the wind tunnel speed at about 5MPH and increasing wind speeds incrementally by 5MPH.
One of the products we were anxious to test in a controlled environment was our Extreme Stake. Our Extreme Stake is currently sold world-wide and is one of our heaviest-duty yard sign stakes. We've tested it outside alongside some competitor stakes in winds we estimated to be around 35MPH, but the wind tunnel gave us an opportunity to examine how the Extreme Stake reacts to measured, direct-line winds.
Our Extreme Stake (front) and competitor H-wires (back) in 35MPH winds
To begin testing, we inserted our Exteme Stake into our lawn stage and attached red yarn to the sign edge, to help illustrate wind in photographs. We started testing at 5MPH and performed the incremental 5MPH increases, eventually reaching 45MPH direct line wind speeds.
Extreme Stake in the wind tunnel prior to starting testing.
Extreme Stake in the wind tunnel at 5MPH
Extreme Stake in wind tunnel at 15MPH
Extreme Stake in wind tunnel at 20MPH
Extreme Stake in wind tunnel at 30MPH
Extreme Stake in wind tunnel at 45MPH
Our Extreme Stake standing tall and straight after stopping wind tunnel.
The Extreme Stake performed exceptionally well in strong, direct line winds. We reached wind speeds just beyond 45MPH and the durable Extreme Stake stood against the wind well, bending slightly to accommodate the wind without sustaining any structural damage. After we stopped the wind tunnel, the stake quickly returned to its original position and appeared unaffected by the wind entirely.