aero | race lab | FH Aachen

The aero | race lab is an ERDF-zdi and REACT-EU project funded under the OP ERDF NRW 2014-2020. The aim is to get pupils interested in the topics of vehicle and drive technology, as well as aerospace. Students from FH Aachen take the mobile school laboratory to schools in the region, conduct experiments together with the pupils and report on their studies.

The REACT-EU project in 2022 made it possible to purchase new laptops and screens to increase the quality of the school lab experiments and to bundle the presentations and results more optimally. In addition, the updated technical support serves the rapid coordination and implementation of online teaching.

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The laboratory

Twelve students from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering are committed to getting schoolchildren excited about the topics of vehicle and drive technology, as well as aerospace.

As a mobile school laboratory, the students travel to schools with their event truck, conduct experiments and report on their studies. They illustrate the contents of the STEM fields, because that is where the students' strengths and passions lie. They try to convey their knowledge in a practical way and through the active cooperation of the pupils. Through this work, the students give the pupils their first insights into the activities of everyday engineering life.

The aero | race lab was introduced in summer 2018, made possible by the supervising professor, Frank Janser, the EU funding programme EFRE and the zdi centre ANTalive.

Since its founding, the school lab has been growing steadily, both as a team and as a project.

Not only school visits are part of the school lab's remit, but also visits to information events and a variety of trade fairs in the region.

The repertoire of the aero l race lab includes a wide variety of experiments in the field of fluid mechanics and aerodynamics. These are taught with the help of experiments as well as illustrative application examples. The aero race lab also has experiments in the field of motor sports. For example, one experiment involves working with last season's Formula Student Car. Through independent work by the students, content and knowledge can be acquired and understood.

For the future, there are already a number of new ideas and projects with which the aero l race lab's range of activities is to be further expanded and diversified. The team is actively supported by the staff of the aerodynamics laboratory of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and the Formula Student Team of FH Aachen, Aixtreme Racing.

The trials

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Wind tunnel
The miniature wind tunnel represents fluid mechanics, as a counterpart to the big ones in industry. It makes flows visible, illustrating the laws of fluid mechanics.

Venturi tube
The Venturi tube illustrates fluid mechanics by making the air flows measurable and interpretable with different sized tube cross-sections. The experiment enables practical work with the Bernoulli formula.

NEW: Driving simulator and telemetry data
In this experiment, theory meets practice. With the help of the driving simulator, the pupils become racing drivers and analysts who can then evaluate the driving behaviour of the racing car on the track.

Sound pressure level measurement on the Aixtreme Racing racing car
The propagation of the sound pressure level is measured with the help of the racing car. Here, the pupils have to carry out measurements independently and document them. The results are then recorded graphically and interpreted.

NEW: Supersonic
The principle of supersonic is made visually tangible here with the help of multimedia tools. The pupils are introduced to the topic by means of meaningful videos.