The Research Laboratory in Combustion Technologies (LITEC) was established by agreement of 20 May 1991 as a center participated exclusively by the CSIC and the Government of Aragon. In August 1999, the agreement was modified to include the University of Zaragoza.

In 2011 a new agreement between the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza, was signed, in which the Government of Aragon declined to participate. It also changed its name to the current, Fluid Dynamics Research Laboratory and Combustion Technology (LIFTEC).

As the name suggests, the Laboratory was in its origins mainly dedicated to the study of combustion, covering from its most basic aspects to technological applications. However, the research field has been extended to essentially the entire area of ​​Fluid Mechanics, including experimental, computational and analytical techniques. The main fields of scientific activity, but not the only ones, are basic and applied combustion, hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, industrial pollution, atomization and fuel cells.

LIFTEC activities are carried out at its premises at Calle Maria de Luna, 10, 50018 - Zaragoza, within the Ebro River Campus, in the area known in the city as Actur.

In addition, activities are also developed in research laboratories at the ​​ Fluid Mechanics Department of the Engineering School of the University of Zaragoza, at the same campus.

Along its years of operation, LIFTEC has earned itself a reputation at the national, and even international, level in their fields of expertise. It has advanced facilities and pilot plants, which can be classified under the category of "special facilities", and are unique in the national context.

Organization chart

The governing body of the Research Laboratory in Fluid Dynamics and Combustion Technology (LIFTEC) is the Governing Committee.

General management and counseling functions are conducted by the Director assisted by the Deputy Director.

The administrative office is in charge of economic-administrative, personnel and service managements, and it is composed by the Manager and Paymaster.

Science policy is developed in the departments, following the guidelines of the Scientific Staff, endorsed by the Board of the Institute, where all scientific, administrative and technical personnel is represented.

Technical support is provided by Service Unit.

Infrastructure

Experimental facilities

LIFTEC has a number of unique experimental facilities in Spain, and in some cases, like few in Europe. All of them are designed in the laboratory and have been financed almost entirely with funds from projects and contracts. Although some elements have been commissioned to external workshops, assembly has been done almost entirely by LIFTEC staff.

The most important are:

• Multifuel combustor, 500 kW
• Experimental gas and diesel boiler, 100 kW
• Laminar flow reactor for solid fuels
• Test plant for gas turbine burners
• Biphasic jet with air co-flow
• Open channel to study transient flow
• Test facility for cold study of industrial nozzles
• Wind tunnel
• Atomization facility
• Cavitation loop
• Tank with moving grid

 

Numerical Analysis Equipment

LIFTEC has a Beowulf cluster for computational calculations, which is mostly used to perform numerical simulations of various fluid dynamics problems. Processing and analysis of data obtained in the laboratory are also carried out in this facility.

Many "in house" codes, written in C, C++ and Fortran have been developed. Fluid-dynamics oriented programming tools are of common use (OpenFOAM, Deal.II, ANSYS FLUENT), along with other of more general orientation (CUDA, PETSC).

The system equipment has been installed and configured by LIFTEC computer staff. That makes it possible to install custom software or enable special system configurations. LIFTEC Beowulf runs on Debian Linux, Gigabit Ethernet networking and diskless-sytem computer nodes.

Cluster Features