The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is one of the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

's principal experimental hydrodynamic research facilities and is operated by the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory. The facility was completed and entered operation in 1949. The facility is named after Lieutenant W. Garfield Thomas Jr., a Penn State

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graduate who was killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. For a long time, the Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel was the largest circulating water tunnel in the world. It has been declared a historic mechanical engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Today, in addition to many of its Navy projects, the facility tunnel-based research has expanded into pumps for the

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, advanced propulsors for ships, heating and cooling systems,

artificial heart valve An artificial heart valve is a one-way valve implanted into a person's heart to replace a heart valve that is not functioning properly ( valvular heart disease). Artificial heart valves can be separated into three broad classes: mechanical he ...

s, vacuum cleaner fans, and other pump and propulsor related products.

History

After the end of WW II, the

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started investing heavily in higher education nationwide. At the same time, Harvard terminated its

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(USL) which invented the first acoustical homing torpedo ( FIDO); consequently Penn State hired Eric Walker, USL's assistant director to head its electrical engineering department, and the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

transferred USL's torpedo division to Penn State - where it became the Ordnance Research Laboratory (ORL). The ORL eventually became the Applied Research Laboratory. The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel was built at Penn State in cooperation with ORL by the

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for further torpedo research. Construction completed on October 7, 1949, and began operating six months later. Since then, the facility has expanded into viscosity, sound, wave, and wind research. In 1992, the facility underwent a complete overhaul.

Capabilities

The facility consists of a number of closed circuit, closed jet and open jet facilities.

Water Tunnels

The facility operates four water tunnels.

Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is the facility's largest water tunnel. The 100 feet long, 32 feet high, 100,000 gallons tunnel is a closed-circuit, closed-jet. The system is powered by 1,491 kW (2,000-hp) pump, with a 4-blade adjustable pitch

impeller An impeller or impellor is a rotor used to increase the pressure and flow of a fluid. It is the opposite of a turbine, which extracts energy from, and reduces the pressure of, a flowing fluid. In pumps An impeller is a rotating componen ...

and can produce a maximum water velocity of 18.29 m/s (40.91 mph). The system is capable of producing pressures between 413.7 and 20.7 kPa. The tunnel is equipped with an array of instruments including: Propeller dynamometers, Five-hole pressure probe, Pitot probes, lasers, pressure sensors,

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s, planar motion mechanism (PMM), force balances,

accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acc ...

s, and acoustics arrays.

Smaller Water Tunnels

The facility operates two additional smaller water tunnels with diameters of 12 inches and 6 inches. Both are closed-circuit, closed-jet. The 12-incher is a 150

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(111.8 kW) system capable of producing maximum water velocity of 24.38 m/s (54.53 mph). The 6-incher is a 25 hp (18.64 kW) system that can deliver a max velocity of 21.34 m/s (47.74 mph). Both tunnels are equipped with lasers, pressure sensors,

pressure transducer A pressure sensor is a device for pressure measurement of gases or liquids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually act ...

s, and

Ultra-High Speed Cavitation Tunnel

The facility also has a 1.5 inch closed-circuit, closed-jet cavitation tunnel capable of producing a maximum velocity of 83.8 m/s (187 mph). The stainless steel, 75 hp (55.9 kW) tunnel supports pressures as high as 41.4 kPa and temperatures of 16 °C to 176 °C.

Other facilities

In addition to the water tunnels, the facility operates an array of wind tunnels, glycerin tunnels, and anechoic chamber for used in many physics problems. The Boundary Layer Research Facility (BLRF) operates a 12-inch turbulent pipe flow of

glycerine Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...

. Additionally, the facility operates a 20 hp (14.91 kW), open-jet, 1,750 rpm Axial-Flow Fan with a 36.58 m/s (81.83 mph) maximum velocity used for basic engineering research in turbomachinery blading. Another 2.75 meter diameter, 100 hp (74.6 kW) closed-circuit used specifically for research in viscous sublayer and in modeling of turbulent flow of fluids next to a wall at large scale.

References

External links

*
ARL Homepage
{{Authority control Ship design Model boats Pennsylvania State University campus United States Navy installations 1949 establishments in the United States 1949 establishments in Pennsylvania Landmarks in Pennsylvania