UCL opens new laboratories

(University College London) is opening unique thermodynamics and fluids laboratories tomorrow, March 3rd, to boost international research in the fields of industrial fluid mechanics, marine engineering, turbo machinery and internal combustion engines.

The refurbishment of the fluid mechanics laboratory has been jointly undertaken with Birkbeck College and funded by an £850,000 Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) II grant. The funds have enabled existing wave and flume tanks to be completely overhauled, laboratory space to be expanded and the addition of a rotating tank. Unique in the UK, the rotating tank allows research into bioprocessing technologies and atmospheric oceanic flow processes.

Funding from SRIF I, the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council has been used to expand the internal combustion engine facilities at UCL. The Fuel System Test Facility (FSTF), the only facility of its type in any European university, provides a safe environment for testing injectors and fuel systems under simulated engine conditions using flammable fuels. Four advanced engine test cells enable UCL engineers to work closely with top car manufacturers to improve engine performance.

Professor Nicos Ladommatos, Head of the UCL Department of Mechanical Engineering, said, "A vibrant interfaculty and interdepartmental exchange already exists between UCL and Birkbeck College and we hope that industry will also be interested in using the facilities.

"Upgrading the infrastructure will catalyse future projects, increase revenue streams, and provide a rapid and dynamic response to changes in the research directions in the future. This fits closely to the UCL strategy of fostering an interdisciplinary environment, investment in laboratory infrastructure, development of groups which can respond to the ever-changing research environment and which have diverse research portfolios."