Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched a state-of-the-art Circulating Water Tunnel facility at ‘Discovery’, its satellite campus in Thaiyur near Chennai. Constructed with Rs. 4.5 crore in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), a Navratna Defence Public Sector Undertaking, the advanced ocean engineering research facility is now fully operational.

The hybrid wind and circulating water channel facility was inaugurated in the presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, and Capt. Jagmohan, IN (Rtd), Chairman and Managing Director, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, alongside other senior officials and stakeholders from both organizations. The facility provides a stable, uniform-flow test section designed for advanced hydrodynamic investigations involving ship models, propellers, and bluff bodies. It will support experimental studies related to marine vehicles, offshore systems, underwater structures, and fluid dynamics, while significantly enhancing research and training capabilities in the Department of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras.