Climatic Wind Tunnel Vienna

At the outset of the construction phase, the IGW engineering consortium (Ingenieurgemeinschaft Klima-Wind-Kanal Wien), consisting of JBG Gauff Ingenieure, Dornier SystemConsult and Gauff Rail Engineering, was appointed as the builder representative responsible for the technical supervision of the project.

Following an international request for proposals, the “ARGE Klima-Wind-Kanal Wien” consortium, consisting of MCE AG, AIOLOS and VA TECH Elin EBG GmbH, was commissioned with the construction of the facility in summer 2000.

MCE AG was responsible for overall project coordination. The Austrian company erected the building envelope and the steel structure. The Canadian wind tunnel experts of AIOLOS Engineering Corporation contributed the wind tunnel technology, the wind tunnel control unit, the dynamometers and the solar simulator. VA TECH Elin EBG supplied the entire electrical installation, the exhaust system, the rain/snow rig and the complete technical building equipment.

After a detail design phase the first sod was turned on 8 March 2001, marking the beginning of the actual construction of the new facility on the so-called Pauker premises in Vienna/Floridsdorf. In June 2002, a mere fifteen months later, the smaller of the two climatic wind tunnels went into operation for the first time and the final testing phase was launched.

In late December 2002, after less than two years of construction, the facility was completed on schedule and on budget and was handed over by Rail Test & Research GmbH to Rail Tec Arsenal for operation.

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