TOPFLOW+ Multipurpose experimental facility
With the commissioning of the TOPFLOW+ test facility in 2014, seven variable test areas as well as a radiation-shielded X-ray laboratory are available for fluid dynamic experiments and measurement campaigns on a total area of 750 m². While in the TOPFLOW test facility, mainly experiments are carried out at high pressure and temperatures, TOPFLOW+ is primarily intended for smaller experiments under athmospheric conditions, with the advantage a fully parallel operation.
For this purpose, each of the seven test areas has a separate media supply terminal, which in addition to the electrical power provides also LAN, water, compressed air and technical gases (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide). The compressed air supply is sub-divided into a small auxiliary compressed air, which can be controlled separately at each test stand and two lines (DN80) for the two sides of the hall, which are centrally controlled by two individual mass flow controllers and can provide up to 900 Nm3 of air. In addition, the individual test areas are equipped either with floor drains (for air/water experiments) or special floor trays with mesh stainless floor, which capture all substances hazardous to the aquatic environment. In addition, flexible local fume hoods are installed at the media supply terminals to safely operate with various gases and aerosols.
The X-ray laboratory has an ultra-fast electron beam X-ray computed tomography system (ROFEX III), which can capture up to 8000 cross-sectional images per second, enabling dynamic data acquisition on fluid distributions from a wide variety of experiments. The ROFEX III is mounted on a traversing device, which runs on the crane runway and thus, makes it possible to reach almost any location and position in the laboratory with the measurement planes of the scanner. In addition, the laboratory has a microfocus-CT system with a fine-focus tube, which allows micro-tomographic 3D scans of any object and flow channel with resolutions in the micrometer range. Both, the experimental hall itself and the X-ray laboratory are equipped with indoor cranes (7.5 t and 5 t), in order to manipulate even large and heavy objects. A small mechanical workshop allows quick setup and rebuilding of fluid dynamic experiments.
The range of experimental equipment ranges from generic experiments on flow structures and flow phenomena in pipelines with valves and obstacles, experiments on distillation columns and multiphase reactors with mass transport studies, to studies on efficient aeration in wastewater treatment.