In a narrow and quiet little street of the 16th Arrondissement of Paris is located a formidable research tool that has been used for almost a century. It is hard to believe that it is still utilized to design some of the most advanced race cars!
The aerodynamic laboratory of Mr. Gustave Eiffel has been sited at 16 rue Boileau for 100 years. Eiffel was not just a brilliant engineer. At an age when many people now retire, and using his own funds, Eiffel built and operated some of the finest aeronautical research tools of his day.
The story begins with the construction of the famous Eiffel Tower for the 1889 world exposition. Originally, the tower was to be dismantled after a few years. To save it from destruction, Eiffel found essential uses for his 300-foot tower, the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time.
The tower turned into a weather station, a radio antenna and an aerodynamic research tool. Eiffel was fascinated by the first planes that were designed, built and flown in the United States and Europe.
In 1903, Eiffel built a device to test the drag on various bodies by dropping them along a vertical cable hung from the second level of his tower. The device recorded the time and distance traveled on the graph, so it was easy to compute the magnitude of the constant speed for each test. He tested about 40 shapes this way over the next three years. But the drop-test machine was not performant enough.
Eiffel then built his first wind tunnel on the Champs-de-Mars near the foot of the tower. The tower had a generator to produce electricity that powered the tower's elevators and lights, so he could use power from it to drive the tunnel's blower.
In 1909, Eiffel lost the commercial license of the tower and was forced to find a new test ground.
Eiffel, aged 76, selected a location on Boileau Street in Auteuil, then a suburb southwest of Paris, for his new laboratory. There he erected a substantial building with offices and a large hangar.
The aerodynamic laboratory of Mr. Gustave Eiffel has been sited at 16 rue Boileau for 100 years. Eiffel was not just a brilliant engineer. At an age when many people now retire, and using his own funds, Eiffel built and operated some of the finest aeronautical research tools of his day.
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| Photo: René Fagnan/Auto123.com |
The story begins with the construction of the famous Eiffel Tower for the 1889 world exposition. Originally, the tower was to be dismantled after a few years. To save it from destruction, Eiffel found essential uses for his 300-foot tower, the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time.
The tower turned into a weather station, a radio antenna and an aerodynamic research tool. Eiffel was fascinated by the first planes that were designed, built and flown in the United States and Europe.
In 1903, Eiffel built a device to test the drag on various bodies by dropping them along a vertical cable hung from the second level of his tower. The device recorded the time and distance traveled on the graph, so it was easy to compute the magnitude of the constant speed for each test. He tested about 40 shapes this way over the next three years. But the drop-test machine was not performant enough.
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| Rear section of the wind tunnel with the electric motors. (Photo: René Fagnan/Auto123.com) |
Eiffel then built his first wind tunnel on the Champs-de-Mars near the foot of the tower. The tower had a generator to produce electricity that powered the tower's elevators and lights, so he could use power from it to drive the tunnel's blower.
In 1909, Eiffel lost the commercial license of the tower and was forced to find a new test ground.
Eiffel, aged 76, selected a location on Boileau Street in Auteuil, then a suburb southwest of Paris, for his new laboratory. There he erected a substantial building with offices and a large hangar.