The Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology is a leading research Institute in the field of aerodynamics/aeroacoustics of airplanes and aerothermodynamics of space vehicles. It has two main sites at Braunschweig and Göttingen and a division at Cologne. Today a total personal of about 350 employees is engaged in numerical and experimental investigations on air- and space vehicles. Experiments are performed in wind tunnels and in flight experimental aircraft.
The Institute can look back on a long history: After the first “Modellversuchsanstalt für Aerodynamik“ was founded in Göttingen in 1907, the Institute for Aerodynamics and the Institute for Gas Dynamics of the "Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luftfahrt” (DFL) were succeeded by today's DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology.
As a leading research institute in the fields of aerodynamics, aeroacoustics and aerothermodynamics, it is subdivided into nine departments. The Institute is acting as a link between basic research at the universities and industrial application. This results in a large number of cooperative national and international research projects.
Environmental policy conditions are playing an increasingly major role in air traffic. The DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology therefore researches how future aircraft and space transportation systems can be designed and operated more efficient, ecological, comfortable, economical and secure. A further core competence is the development of software products used for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic simulations.