The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD), Memphis Detachment is located on President’s Island near downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The detachment houses the William B. Morgan Large Cavitation Channel (LCC), one of the world's largest and most technically advanced high-speed, variable-pressure water tunnel facilities. Operational since 1991, the 1.4 million-gallon facility tests ship and submarine propulsion systems using model scales large enough to match even the world's leading towing and turning basins.  

The LCC's sophisticated design allows the U.S. Navy to measure submarine and surface ship power, efficiency, and propeller noise by using models in a controlled but realistic environment. As a model is held stationary in the tunnel's 43-foot-long test section, water flows at speeds up to 35 knots with variable pressure, allowing simultaneous measurements of propeller cavitation and acoustics from the model’s propulsion, hull, and appendages. The tunnel employs advanced hydro-acoustic silencing techniques to reduce acoustic reverberation introduced by the tunnel’s water flow.

In an observation and measurement section measuring 10 feet high by 10 feet wide by 43 feet long, the tunnel can perform experiments concerning: 

• Cavitation, force measurement, flow visualization, and noise on complete hull-appendage propulsor models, bodies of revolution, surface ships, submarines, and torpedoes.
• Open-water propeller tests.
• Supercritical free surface testing.
• Basic and applied research requiring low background noise levels, large Reynolds numbers, variable pressure, and low turbulence levels.

The tunnel can perform experiments under operating specifications such as: 

• Test section pressure: 3.5 to 414 kPa (0.03 to 4atmospheres, 0.5 to 60 psia)
• Test section velocity: 2.6 to 18 meters per second (5 to 35 knots, 8.5 to 59 feet per second)
• Test section size: 3 meters by 3 meters (10-foot by 10-foot) in cross section and 13 meters (43 feet) in length
• 10-micron water filtration
• Modulated air content: 10% to 100% saturation
• 0.2% turbulence
• 0.17% flow stability

Facility Expansion

In addition to the Large Cavitation Channel, the detachment also houses a 450,000-square-foot industrial facility with up to a 10-story high clearance. Utilizing currently unused spaces, the Memphis Detachment is set to become home to new research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) laboratories such as the Rapid Applied Materials Processing (RAMP) Facility and future planned labs, continuing the detachment's long history of dedication to solving the Navy’s complex challenges.

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division Detachment
Large Cavitation Channel
3001 Harbor Ave. 
Memphis, TN 38113