Turkey’s First Cavitation Tunnel Opened at ITU

Turkey’s first “Large Cavitation Tunnel and Maneuvering Experiment System” (KATMANSİS) was opened with a ceremony held at ITU Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Sciences with the participation of the President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir.

Turkey’s first “Large Cavitation Tunnel and Maneuvering Experiment System” (KATMANSİS) was opened with a ceremony held at ITU Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Sciences with the participation of the President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir.

In the opening ceremony held on Friday, December 17, 2021, President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu, Dean of Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Sciences Prof. Dr. Emin Korkut and TRtest Test and Evaluation Inc. General Manager Bilal Aktaş made speeches. Students and journalists also showed interest in the ceremony, which had a wide participation.

President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir emphasized that the facility is a very important step for our defense industry and shipping industry to create products with better design and high performance. Drawing attention to the role of public, private sector and university cooperation in the construction of the tunnel, Demir proceeded as follows: “This facility is an important achievement realized through university-industry cooperation. It will also constitute an important element of our national technology move. As you know, our defense industry has been drawing attention with its advances in recent years, and it is leading in placing the concept of ‘domestic and national’ on our country's agenda even more.”

It will serve the defense industry and shipbuilding industry

Stating that the “Large Cavitation Tunnel and Maneuvering Experiment System” (KATMANSİS) has been completed and both systems have been successfully made ready for use, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu said the following about the work done:

“Our large-scale cavitation tunnel established at ITU is a facility that can serve especially the defense industry and the shipbuilding industry, and enable high-level scientific research. This facility will experimentally serve a variety of purposes, such as the ability to propel ships and submarines both in fast and quiet cruising, navigation in terms of performance and with low noise levels, and special propeller design to reduce cavitation. This tunnel, which was manufactured with domestic means, has the distinction of being the seventh largest cavitation tunnel in the world in terms of both dimensions and flow rate. It is the only tunnel of this scale in our country.”

After the speeches made at the ceremony, our Rector Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu gave a plaque to President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir. Afterwards, the Cavitation Tunnel was opened together with other participants. After the opening, information was given about the tests carried out in the tunnel.

“Sharing Experiences” with Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir

After the opening ceremony, President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir shared his experiences with ITU students. Demir, who graduated from ITU Aeronautical Engineering in 1982, expressed that it was a great pleasure for him to be on this campus again after thirty years, and shared both his student memories as well as his professional and academic experiences with ITU students. Demir also answered students’ questions and emphasized the importance of domestic and international work experiences, as well as what contributions graduating from ITU made to him.