The Office of Facility Management will soon be awarding a contract to build a new facility for the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). The new facility will be a Wind and Wave Evacuation & Survival (WiWAVES) Facility to be located on the grounds of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. Construction on the new WiWAVES Facility, is expected to begin in this year, and should be completed by 2024.
The WiWAVES facility will replace the aging Water Survival Research Facility (WSRF) at CAMI, which was installed in 1967. The new facility will support multiple research efforts in support of the Office of Aviation Safety (AVS). CAMI’s Aerospace Medical Education (AAM-400) and Research (AAM-600) Divisions will perform these critical research and training activities.
The CAMI WiWAVES Research Facility will be a unique research facility housed in an approximate 45,000 sq. ft. building. It will be used to establish test criteria and standards for the performance of aircraft evacuation slides, rafts, and other safety devices under simulated rough sea environments. These rough sea environments will be simulated in the centerpiece of the facility; the 100’ x 86’ x 19’ deep water research tank.
The facility will produce rough sea conditions including strong winds of up to 26 knots and will produce 10 foot-high (maximum) open sea waves. These waves will mostly move up and down rather than simulating those that crash onto the shore (sorry surfers). This water research tank area will be surrounded by the structural and mechanical apparatus needed to simulate the rough sea conditions with wave and wind generation machines. This area will also include the built-in machines to support the placement of large research related equipment (such as aircraft fuselages used for ditching into the water evacuations). The facility is also capable of simulating a wide range of aircraft door sizes and will be equipped to attach various escape slides and rafts.
The water research tank area will also contain large horizontal pointing fans for replicating wind gusts, as well as an additional downward pointing fan replicating "rotor wash" from helicopter blades. There is also going to be a water rescue training tower, which will be used for simulating helicopter rescue scenarios. The WiWaves facility will also house all of the ancillary spaces required to support the two primary building functions - research and training.
These ancillary spaces will include a new Inflatables Laboratory and workshop for the repair, development, and maintenance of inflatable water survival equipment that will be used to support the research and training activities. Additionally, there will be a multi-purpose room capable of supporting a multiple classroom setups, or large sized groups (up to 100 people) of research participants.
