Aalto Ice and Wave Tank

Aalto University plays a leading role in Finnish and international Arctic technology research and education. Aalto Ice and Wave Tank, a unique facility originally established in the early 1980s, has been thoroughly renovated and upgraded in 2015-2019. The tank is now operational and open for researchers and industrial partners.

Aalto Ice and Wave Tank is a 40 m × 40 m, 2.8-metre deep water basin equipped with a cooling system and equipment to produce model-scale sea ice. The model scale ice is fine grained and generated through a spraying process. Typical experiments in the tank include resistance, propulsion, and manoeuvring tests of ships in ice, tests on ice loads on marine structures and modelling of natural ice formations, such as ice ridges. The facility also enables a wide range of other experiments on the physical phenomena related to sea ice.

Aalto Ice and Wave Tank is unique in the world because of its dimensions and its large width in particular. While the infrastructure is named an ice tank, the facility is multifunctional and can be used for open water tests as well. The basin has wave makers that allow research on problems related to ice and waves. Aalto Ice and Wave Tank is an open access facility and available for use by academic professionals and industrial experts according to our access guidelines and pricing principles.

Aalto Ice and Wave Tank is part of the Research Council of Finland's national infrastructure roadmap for 2025–2028.