Facilities

Large Aero Wind Tunnel

Main characteristics: Closed circuit, circular test section (3 m diameter and length of 5m); maximum free stream velocity: 80 m/s. Equipment: 6-component external and internal balances, data acquisition system, pressure distributions devices (up to 200 input channels), pressure rakes for wake investigation, flow visualization apparatus, 3-axis probe positioning system, Particle Image Velocimetry.

Aero Wind Tunnel

Open circuit, rectangular test section (0.9 m x 1.2 m x 6 m). Maximum free stream velocity: 12 m/s. Mainly used for studies on developing turbulent flows such as grid flows, mixing layers, wake flows as well as for studies on road vehicles’ aerodynamics.

Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

Open circuit, rectangular test section (0.8 m x 0.6 m x 5 m). Maximum free stream velocity: 20 m/s. Mainly used for fundamental (kinematic and thermal) boundary layer studies, flow cavities and friction drag reduction. 

'Hydra' Water Tunnel

Free water-surface closed circuit facility. Rectangular test section (0.3 m x 0.5 m x 1 m). Maximum speed equal to 30cm/s. Main research activities: turbulent boundary layer, step flows, and friction drag reduction. Main measurement techniques: Particle Image Velocimetry.

Channel Flow Facility

Main characteristics: length  8 m, height 32 mm, width 480 mm. Main investigations: fully developed laminar, transitional and turbulent flows; wall turbulence manipulation and friction drag reduction.

'Ferrari' Wind Tunnel

Eiffel type open circuit tunnel within an enclosure designed by Prof. Ferrari. Maximum free stream velocity: 20m/s. Main activity: aerodynamics of drone propellers in manoeuvring conditions.

Jet Flow Facility

The 1-inch nozzle jet is used for research studies on free and impinging jet flows. Swirl jets made with helicoidal insets or with azimuthally-oriented plasma jets are also studied. The facility also allows for the heating of the flow making it perfectly suited for the calibration of kinematic- /thermal- boundary-layer probes.