About

In 1882, two decades before the Wright brothers’ famous flight, a Notre Dame student, Albert Zahm, was conducting fluid dynamics and aerodynamics research in his wind tunnel, one of the first built in the world.

In 1947, Notre Dame launched the “Aerospace Engineering Laboratory” which has been recognized worldwide for research conducted in its low-turbulence, subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic wind tunnels.

The Institute for Flow Physics and Control (FlowPAC) began in 2001 to cultivate an environment in which research is accelerated through intellectual interactions among faculty, staff, students, government, and industry partners. Our goal is to advance our collective understanding of fluid dynamics and aerodynamics through high-impact research that leads to engineering solutions that are technologically viable and economically feasible.

Our 14 faculty and over 60 Ph.D. students currently work on theoretical, computational, and experimental fluids research projects sponsored by a broad number of government agencies, including all branches of the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and NASA. The Institute’s faculty also work closely with industry partners to identify relevant engineering challenges and transition newly developed technology.

The Director of the Institute is Professor Scott C. Morris. Please feel free to contact us with any inquiries (flowpac@nd.edu).