This article was taken from the April 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Need to put your nautical prototype through its paces? The Haslar Marine Technology Park, near Portsmouth, can help. Run by defence technology company QinetiQ (a former research arm of the MoD), it's one of the largest hydrodynamic testing sites in the world. Haslar performance-tests model ship and submarine designs and tracks the results, equipping ship builders with crucial data before committing their designs to steel.
Haslar recently tested Royal Navy aircraft-carrier hulls for the MoD, putting a model under 800 individual runs. It's not just for vessels: the tanks are ideal for testing tidal turbines and other wave-energy technology.
Ocean Basin
The basin is where buoyancy, dynamics and manoeuvrability tests are run. Measuring 122m by 61m, and 5.5m deep, the tank holds 40,000 tonnes of water, equivalent to 16 Olympic pools.
Submarine escape simulator
Used for testing submarine equipment, a hyperbaric chamber recreates pressures up to 150 times that of sea level -- equivalent to a depth of 1,500m.
Models
Scale models of submarines are remote-controlled via Wi-Fi. Data is fed back to the pilot in real time while motion-capture data is fed to the model. This removes the need for navigation gyroscopes.
Towing tank
This 270m-long tank tests towing resistance and propulsion. The 35-tonne towing carriage runs on two rails either side of the tank.
It pulls models with speeds up to 44kph and drag loads of up to 5kN.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
