Raul Married |
Madrid (EFE).- It is the largest “swimming pool” in Spain, although it is still a miniature sea; and it is home to the “Calm Water Canal” in Madrid, where for almost a hundred years research has been done on how to improve the efficiency of ships and the protection of the seas.
Today, the channel is also focusing on the two main challenges of navigation: reducing consumption to cut the most polluting emissions and also reducing underwater noise and the acoustic footprint of vessels.
Its managers compare it with “the wind tunnel” that the automobile industry uses to improve the aerodynamics of vehicles, and almost 3,000 boats have already been tested in its waters.
The first, a codfish; but then all the ships of the Spanish Armada; numerous boats used in various Olympic Games, the successive “Spanish challenge” with which Spain has attended the America’s Cup of sailing; gigantic ocean liners of the world’s leading cruise companies; or even “El Fortuna” that the Royal House used for years.
The “Calm Waters Canal” is, with 320 meters long, 12.5 wide and almost 7 deep, one of the largest in the world and is required by hundreds of companies and governments to test their models and try to achieve reduce consumption and noise as much as possible, in addition to improving seaworthiness and maneuverability conditions.
And they achieve it by accurately replicating (to scale) the original models and reproducing in this miniature sea the navigation conditions that are going to be found in real situations throughout their useful life, in a colossal pool where the boats can reach accelerations of up to 10 meters per second and check the efficiency of the most important parts of the boat: from the bulbous bow to the hull and the propeller.
A “Calm Water Canal” in Madrid
The “Calm Water Canal” is located in the Center for Hydrodynamic Experiences that the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) of the Ministry of Defense has on the El Pardo campus (Madrid), and is classified as a “Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure ” by the Ministry of Science and has established itself -according to those responsible- as an international benchmark in the field of shipbuilding.
Eloy Carrillo, head of the Technology and Testing Department at this center, has specified that the experiments that are mainly oriented towards navigation -civil, commercial and sports- but have influenced the relevance that energy research has had in recent years renewables in the marine environment (wind and currents).
In statements to EFE, Eloy Carrillo has placed this facility as one of the most important in the world in its field, and has observed that similar channels only exist in the most advanced countries in the world (eight European countries, the United States and Japan).
Two historical notes and a curiosity
The “canal” was “ordered” by King Alfonso XIII in 1928 and inaugurated in 1933, although it did not reach its current length until 1955; it has tested some of the most emblematic ships of the last century -among them the “Tina Onassis”, the largest oil tanker in the world in the fifties-; and it preserves, thanks to exceptional environmental conditions, the same water with which it was filled almost a century ago.
Part of the international conference that brings together the best test canals in the world, the El Pardo canal – its main managers at its facilities have informed EFE – has contributed to improving the safety of thousands of vessels, saving fuel, optimizing the resistance to advance and the performance of its propellers, with numerous tests and experiments that include studies in extreme sea conditions.
It works with numerous universities, research centers and national and international companies, and the experiments it carries out in the navigation sector have been extended in recent years to research projects with unmanned vehicles and European programs aimed at reducing noise from propellers and the hull to limit the effects on marine biodiversity as much as possible.
Eloy Carrillo has confirmed that reducing the consumption of ships and reducing their polluting emissions has been one of the main concerns of the naval sector for decades and one of the purposes on which the INTA campus in El Pardo has focused its work, but has influenced the importance that is now attached to the need to reduce underwater noise and the acoustic footprint.
In the case of warships -he explained- for not revealing their presence and reducing the chances of being located; in the case of commercial and fishing vessels to increase catches; and in the case of cargo and passenger ships to improve the comfort of crews and passengers.