History of the Institute

Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics

Founding father of the institute is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Artur Weise. After moving from the premises of the former research institute Graf Zeppelin in Ruit to the Stuttgart-Vaihingen campus at the end of the 1950s, it received its current name "Institute for Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics". The focus of the research was initially on the experimental field, which resulted in a large number of test facilities, the majority of which are still in operation today. While in the beginning, research initially focused mainly on supersonic flows, over time the spectrum also expanded to the low speed range, in particular for applications in glider construction, wind energy and building aerodynamics. In recent decades, numerical flow simulation has become more and more important in the research work of the institute.

                                                    

                                                    

Prof. Artur Weise
Prof. Artur Weise

In 1946 Prof. Weise founded the “Institute of Gas Flows”

The IAG of the University of Stuttgart looks back on a long tradition. It was in 1946 when Professor Artur Weise founded the “Institute of Gas Flows”. It finally became the “Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics” in 1960. Professor Weise particularly dealt with the conception and development of a short time supersonic wind tunnel, which was built during the sixties as a large scale plant. He also works on optical methods.

Prof. Franz Xaver Wortmann
Prof. Franz Xaver Wortmann

In 1974 Professor Franz Xaver Wortmann became chair holder

His main focus of research was on incompressible flows. He particularly investigated turbulence development and influence. Due to the aerodynamic design of profiles for gliders and rotorcrafts (FX-profiles), Professor Wortmann became known internationally. On the initiative of Professor Wortmann the laminar water tunnel and laminar wind tunnel as well as the gust wind tunnel used for wind turbine tests were built.

Förster/Algermissen: acting heads during the interim period

Dr. Karl Förster was appointed professor in 1976. After the death of Prof. Wortmann in 1985 he became acting head till 1988.His field of activity was the unsteady flow. Prof. Förster was the first at the institute who consequently worked on the application of computer based numerical methods. After his retirement in 1988, Prof. Algermissen, head of the ITLR, became acting head of the IAG.

Prof. Siegfried Wagner
Prof. Siegfried Wagner

In 1991 Professor Siegfried Wagner assumed responsibility

Prof. Wagner was full professor at the University of the Bundeswehr München in Neubiberg before he became chair holder in this turbulent period. He reorganised the institute from scratch and in addition to the current research work, he established new themes e.g. the numerical simulation of the aerodynamic of helicopters and wind turbines as well as aeroacoustics. Furthermore, he successfully integrated a work group from a neighbouring institute that worked on the direct numerical simulation of the laminar-to-turbulent boundary-layer transition.

                                                    

                                                    

In 1997 Professor Claus-Dieter Munz was appointed to the chair of “Numerical Fluid Mechanics”

Prof. Munz came from the Karlsruhe Research Centre where he was head of the group “Scientific Computing” focused on numerical fluid mechanics. The focus of his research is on the construction of numerical methods, particularly methods with fine resolution for the simulation of turbulent flows. Furthermore, Prof. Munz also does the numerical modelling of multi-phase – and plasma flows. He is co-opted member of the faculty of mathematics and physics as well as of the SC SimTech.

Homepage Prof. Claus-Dieter Munz

                                                    

Since 2004 Professor Ewald Krämer is head of the IAG

Professor Krämer was a regular soldier in the German air force for 12 years. Later he worked in the aerospace industry for 15 years, most recently as head of the main department “flow physics” at EADS military aircrafts in Ottobrunn near Munich. In this function he participated in the development of the Eurofighter. Prof Krämer`s main focus is on the field of experimental and numerical aerodynamic of aircrafts, helicopters and wind turbines.

Homepage Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ewald Krämer

                                                    

On 15.10.2022, Prof. Andrea Beck will take over the chair of "Numerical Methods in Fluid Mechanics"

Mrs. Beck succeeds Prof. Dr. Claus-Dieter Munz, who retired on 30.09.2022. After graduating in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mrs. Beck did her PhD at the IAG on "High order discontinuous Galerkin methods for the simulation of multiscale problems" and subsequently worked as a junior research group leader. After a guest professorship at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Prof. Beck is back at the IAG and represents the numerical methods in fluid mechanics in research and teaching. Her focus is in particular on high-order methods for turbulence simulations as well as on the integration of data-driven approaches.

Homepage Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andrea Beck

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