Brno University of Technology opened the first NETME Centre building

A new NETME Centre building at the BUT Faculty of Mechanical Engineering designed for testing aircraft equipment was opened on Friday 16^th September 2001 on the faculty campus at Technická 2. Designed and built within eighteen months as the first of the Research and Development for Innovations operative programme, this special building will be used by the Division of Aircraft and Automotive Technology.

“ It is a remarkable fact that, with the construction starting in January last year, today the first  NETME Centre building is to be opened, ”said Rector of BUT Karel Rais.“ Our university has received about 8 billion CZK from the EU Structural Funds in support of more centres of excellence to come, which makes us one of the most successful Czech universities in terms of money won from the structural funds. Thus, we are faced with an enormous challenge to ensure smooth drawing on these financial resources complying with the requirements of the Brussels administration. So far, we have been successful concerning the NETME project,“ added the rector.

Standing for the Centre of New Technologies for Mechanical Engineering, NETME Centre is a regional research and development centre based on the research conducted at the BUT Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. It consists of five cooperating divisions: Division of Power, Process, and Environmental Engineering (PPE); Division of Aircraft and Automotive Technology (AAT); Division of Virtual Machine Design and Testing (VMDT); Division of Mechatronics (M); Division of Advanced Metal Materials (AMM). The construction officially began on 1^st January 2010 receiving 768 million CZK (EU 652 million, Ministry budget 116 million) in funding from EU and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (the Research and Development for Innovations operating programme, Priority Axis 2 - Regional R&D). The centre's main purpose is to ensure effective cooperation between the university and the industrial and commercial spheres, to transfer the knowledge and research outcomes to practice. NETME Centre also opens opportunities for young talented researchers.

The new building for the Division of Aircraft and Automotive Technology will be used for carrying out structure strength tests at two testing grates (mid-heavy and heavy ones), manufacturing advanced composite structures in „clean“ environment using also the classic wet-laying technology, testing hydraulic elements, and electric dashboard systems. A heavy grate sized 23 by 20 ft taking up a volume of 315,000 ft³, is at the core of the building being designed to enable even crash tests of aircraft structures and seats, shatter tests of undercarriages falling from a height of up to 13.2 yards and hitting the ground at a speed of up to 35 mph. Another testing grate is designed for carrying out tests of wings with very high aspect ratios spanning over 83 ft, which are characterized by large deflection (up to 13.5 ft) and their testing is very difficult using the current laboratory equipment.

Other adjoining rooms then house the technologies necessary to develop and test new composite structures and constructions. Office rooms for a new research team and laboratories for testing aircraft systems are situated on the highest floor.