The Open Circuit Wind Tunnel (OCWT) at the Department of Aerospace engineering, IISc, is the oldest and largest wind tunnel facility in India with a test section size of 14ft x 9ft. Operational since 1959, this facility has played a key role in aerodynamic testing for leading aerospace development programmes in the country. The tunnel has also been serving other sectors such as automobiles, ship building, and civil structure testing.
On 12 January 2026, the OCWT reached an important milestone with the inauguration of the upgraded wind tunnel in an event held in the Faculty Hall of IISc. The upgrade involved replacing the legacy fan-motor-drive system with a state-of-the-art system (with motor and drive from ABB India Ltd and the fans designed by Prof SP Govindaraju, retired faculty member, IISc). This enabled increasing the speed range inside the test section from 45m/s to 70m/s with enhanced automation and more precise speed control than was possible earlier.
The upgrade was possible due to generous support from TVS Motors and a partial support from IISc. Dignitaries were invited from leading defense agencies, national laboratories, ISRO centres as well as public and private sector companies.
After the event at the Faculty Hall, a tour of the upgraded facility was arranged, and invitees were shown various sections of the facility and a live demo of the wind tunnel. Moreover, an exhibit of the important wind tunnel models that were tested in the tunnel over the past several decades was arranged. Along with the experimental facility, a new HPC cluster consisting of 1280 AMD EPYC processors housed in the OCWT complex was also commissioned.
The OCWT now enters a new era with the vision to provide integrated solutions to clients by combining strengths of experimental testing, CFD simulations, and data-driven modelling. A meeting was held with the representatives of user organisations such as ADA, ADE, HAL, CABS, VSSC, and TVS where they expressed a strong interest in enhancing cooperation with IISc for leveraging the enhanced capabilities of OCWT in addressing their specific needs.
