A test facility at Delft University of Technology for creating a water flow of 2370mmx300mm at max. 1,5m/sec is finally realized. The facility is considered to be a reversed towing tank for testing ship scale models and can run continously.
In Summer 2015, a flumetank was delivered at Delft University of Technology. A flumetank is a water bassin in which a flow of water is generated, as it were a 'moving belt of water'. In this flow model ships are positioned in order to investigate their resistance, sailing behavior and induced currents around their hull. The challenge in this project was to create a water flow that has consistent speed from top to bottom. For this, the bottom is a submerged moving belt, that runs synchronously with the water flow. In order to keep te moving belt flat and not sucked to the top by the main flow, a system underneath the top surface of the belt with suction chambers was developed. The top surface of the flow is smoothened by an adjustable plate. This plate is also driven by excentrics for making waves if needed. InnoSys is main contractor in this project and is responsible for strength calculations, drive systems sizing (main pump, belt, wave maker andsuction pump), installation and control strategy. The structure was built in cooperation with a stainless steel specialist. Contour sizing was done in cooperation with Flow Motion. A really challenging project, since building and developing this research facility was a research on its own! Specs: structure weight 14.000kgs, water content: 26.000litres, test bed cross section: 2370mmx300mm, max speed: 1,50m/sec. A fully loaded Boeing 737 on a footprint of 2m80x11m50!