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Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) / Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE) Teaching and Research Laboratory

The Newport News Shipbuilding Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Teaching and Research Lab is the center of the experimental work of our undergraduates. The space is designed to provide student with various research-grade small scale experimental setups. The facility houses the 0.7m Open Jet Wind Tunnel that is used throughout the year for the undergraduate curriculum (through the AOE3054 and AOE4154 courses) and various undergraduate research projects.

Students setting up a circular cylinder model
Students setting up a circular cylinder model for a hotwire anemometry laboratory in the 0.7m Open Jet Wind Tunnel.
Propeller performance lab
Undergraduate students perform a propeller performance laboratory in the 0.7m Open Jet Wind Tunnel.

The facility also features a 15cm x 15cm water tunnel equipped with state of the art high-speed particle image velocimetry system as well as a 25.4cm x 3.2cm smoke flow visualization wind tunnel. Both facilities are used on a regular basis for our undergraduate laboratories.

High-speed particle image velocimetry system
Calibration of the high-speed particle image velocimetry system in the 15cm water tunnel for an undergraduate laboratory in AOE3054