Engineering Consultants to the Maritime Sector and Fluid Dynamics Experts
The Wolfson Unit has provided testing and consultancy for ventures in the maritime engineering, naval architecture, yacht design, offshore, sports, aerospace and defence industries since 1967.
Our role is to provide bespoke engineering consultancy with access to world class experimental facilities and simulation tools so that you can progress your project, fast.
Why choose Wolfson?
Our Services
Explore our comprehensive marine technology and industrial aerodynamic services to find out how we can enhance your next project.
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Model Basin and Towing Tank Testing
Traditional towing tank experiments, flow visualisation and analysis, wake surveys as well as bespoke tests for the offshore and renewables sector.
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Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
We have extensive CFD capabilities which complement the experimental testing and other services we provide, offering a cost and time effective solution to hydrodynamic design studies.
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Wind Tunnel Testing
The Wolfson Unit offers several wind tunnel experiment services including: measurement of aerodynamic forces and moments, flow visualisation and other measurement techniques (e.g. LDA and PIV).
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Wind Assisted Shipping
Tailored packages to test and evaluate wind assisted technologies.
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Marine Consultancy
Stability booklets, inclining experiments, ship powering, propeller sizing, yacht performance prediction, hull lines measurement and ships lines generation.
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Full Scale Trials and Instrumentation
Measurements of vessel while completing sea trials. 6 axis motions, forces, moments, accelerations, temperatures, pressures, and engine data.
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Product Development
Dynamometers, custom force and torque sensors, electro-mechanical systems and outboard thrust meters.
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Vessel Safety
Stability assessments, model testing and research, accident investigation, safety guidance and the Wolfson method.
Take a look at our software
Who we work with
Our Facilities
Our location on the south coast of England gives us easy access to some world leading facilities. Using state of the art, research level equipment, we deliver exceptional results for our customers.
Model Basins
Towing Tanks and Ocean Basins for model ships and offshore structure testing.
Wind Tunnels
We use Wind Tunnels to test the aerodynamic performance of models.
CFD Capability
The powerful Iridis Super Computer enables us to conduct complex analyses.
“The Wolfson Unit have carried out tank testing and wind tunnel work on the majority of our designs over the past 20 years, with Aquel being the first Superyacht in 1985. We have an excellent relationship with the Wolfson Unit and would not hesitate to recommend them.”
Malcolm McKeon
Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design
The latest from the Wolfson Unit
See more of our projects and insight on our Linkedin
Fastrig Land Based Demonstrator
It is so encouraging to see the recent increase in wind assisted propulsion systems moving from design to build and testing phases.
Yesterday, Smart Green Shipping hosted us at their Fastrig demonstrator facility in Hunterston.
The rig was put through its paces by the SGS engineers in a typical west coast of Scotland forecast of rain and breezy conditions (the reason this site was selected to test the rig!).
We look forward to following the progress of the testing and through our collaboration on an Innovate UK Clean Maritime Demonstrator Competition Project ‘Winds of Change’.
Presenting Work on Fishing Boat Safety
The Wolfson Unit has produced new experimental evidence on the survivability in waves of a typical 10 metre fishing vessel, in relation to stability criteria and guidance presented in the current UK Code of Practice (CoP) for small fishing vessels. A key objective of this study was to establish the level of safety from capsizing enabled by the Wolfson Stability Method over a range of load conditions representing actual fishing operations. (https://lnkd.in/eeqVwK5S)
(photo credit: TSB Canada)