Entry Date:
November 10, 1998

Marine Hydrodynamic Laboratory (MHL): Water Tunnel

Principal Investigator Michael Triantafyllou

Co-investigator Alexandra Techet


This lab is dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine hydrodynamics. The main facility is a variable pressure recirculating water tunnel that is capable of speeds up to 10 m/s. Experiments with conventional and novel propulsion devices, drag reduction using MHD (magneto-hydrodynamics), flow control by unsteady swimming motion and flapping foils, offshore cylinder testing and vortex-induced-vibrations are performed using state of the art measurement techniques and instrumentation.

The MIT Department of Ocean Engineering's Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory is home to a recirculating, variable pressure water tunnel.

Originally developed for the testing of ship propellers, the MIT Marine Hydrodynamics Water Tunnel employs a moving stream of water rather than a moving object as in a towing tank. It has a test section 1.2 meters long by 50 cm square through which an extremely uniform stream of water can be moved at speeds up to 10 m/s. Click here for tunnel schematics and photographs.

Models of propellers, waterjets, control surfaces, hydrofoils, submersibles and other devices can be tested. The pressure of the water can be adjusted automatically over a wide range in order to scale cavitation characteristics of the object being tested. Recent works include drag reduction tests with electro-magneto-hydrodynamics, turbulence reduction through fish-like swimming motions, snake-swimming, and flapping foil experiments. In addition the facility is used extensively in student laboratories for hydrodynamcis courses within the Ocean Engineering Department.

In the past, the water tunnel has been used to examine various 2D wing sections for Professor Jerry Milgram to aid in his design of the appendages of the America^3 yacht for the 1995 America's Cup, and to evaluate the performance of a number of propellers for sailboats.

State of the art flow visualization and measurement devices are in use at this facility. Particle Image Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Velocimetry are widely used in many projects. Upcoming additions include a fiber-probe for the LDV system and stereoPIV capabilities. A computer-controlled traverse is used to position measurement equipment. The laboratory has several PC's equipped with multi-channel analog/digital boards for use in test data acquisition and processing.