About ADAI

The Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics - ADAI - is a private, non-profit institution, with its headquarters located in Coimbra, in the Industrial Aerodynamics Laboratory, at Rua Pedro Hispano n.º 12, 3030-289 Coimbra.

ADAI is a Technology Centre connected to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, and promotes research, development, training, monitoring for industry and services provision. It was established on July 9, 1990, and recognized as a collective person of public utility on October 14, 1996. As a Technological Centre, ADAI is registered in the Mapping of the Technological Infrastructures of the Central Region of Portugal.

ADAI was created as an initiative of a group of researchers in the areas of fluid mechanics, heat transmission and air conditioning and environment, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), with the aim of providing a formal framework for the promotion of research and experimental development activity, in collaboration with various public and private entities.

ADAI also aims at fostering technical and scientific collaboration among its members and with other national or foreign entities, in the search for technically grounded answers and solutions to problems facing the environment, industry and society, namely in the defense of their sustainability, safety and well-being.

Within its areas of expertise, ADAI's main objectives are:

• The creation and promotion of scientific and technological infrastructures for the industrial area, for the area of safety, forest protection and firefighting, and for the area of industrial safety;
• The advanced technical, technological and scientific training of the human resources of companies;
• The promotion and implementation of fundamental and applied research that promotes the increase of business competitiveness through energy efficiency and safety in industrial companies, in companies with forestry economic activity, in firefighting and prevention companies and in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) companies;
• The provision of specialized and innovative services to companies in these areas of economic activity.

These objectives are achieved through a structure based on two Research and Development Areas, which constitute the core of ADAI's activity. These areas are independent, in terms of management and external relations, but work closely together, sharing human and material resources:

a) Energy, Environment and Comfort: The activities of this research group are organized into four main areas: energy efficiency and indoor air quality, industrial ecology, sustainable mobility, and wind engineering and industrial aerodynamics. It has an accredited laboratory with adequate equipment and up-to-date experimental facilities adapted to the research fields (e.g. wind tunnels, climatic chambers and engine test bench). It has a leading role in the Energy for Sustainability (EfS) initiative of the University of Coimbra, which has allowed to attract several PhD and MSc students. Its PhD members are affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Coimbra, the University of Algarve, and the Polytechnic Institutes of Coimbra, Leiria, Castelo Branco and Viseu.

b) Forest Fires and Detonics: The activities of this group are focused on promoting scientific knowledge of phenomena related to the occurrence and spread of forest fires, in order to support common efforts to minimize the negative impacts of these fires. The group is dedicated to applied research in the field of forest fires and fires at the urban-forest interface, particularly in the physical aspects of fire and personal safety in the context of forest fires. In the area of detonics, the group is dedicated to the study and development of explosives and shock transmission in condensates, to the study of propellants and gas generators, and to the study of preliminary applications or prototype tuning of explosive applications.

The identification of the existing core competencies in ADAI resulted in the creation of 4 Thematic Centres, with dedicated teams and with external recognition:

• CEIF - Center for Forest Fire Studies
• CIE - Center for Industrial Ecology
• CSBE - Center for Sustainability of the Built Environment
• CED - Center for Energy and Detonics

Mostly, ADAI develops its activity in the following infrastructures:

• Laboratório de Aerodinâmica Industrial (LAI, 1986), located near Polo II of the University of Coimbra, with 1800 m2 of covered area and accredited as a Test and Measurement Laboratory according to the standard NP EN ISO/IEC 17025, with certificate no. L0177. LAI has specific infrastructures and instrumentation for carrying out accredited tests and research in the areas of acoustics, vehicles, aerodynamics, particle transport flow, thermal environments, and mobile robotics systems.

• Laboratório de Estudos sobre Incêndios Florestais (LEIF, 1995), located in the Lousã Aerodrome, with 1152 m2 and 11m high, LEIF is the most important structure dedicated to experimental research on forest fires in Europe. It is promoted by ADAI's Center for Forest Fire Studies (CEIF), which, since 1985, has been conducting applied research on various topics related to fire behavior and personal safety.

• Laboratório de Energética e Detónica (LEDAP), created in 1984 to provide the experimental conditions for the testing and development of explosives and propellants, under the Cooperation Protocol between SPEL and the University of Coimbra, is located in Condeixa, and is intended to study the processes of detonation and combustion of energetic materials. It has an infrastructure consisting of a main building, with offices and meeting room, rooms for test preparation, rooms equipped with image acquisition systems, and a 17 m3 steel explosions chamber..