It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our colleague and friend Honorary Professor Domenico Olivari at age of 87 on October 22nd, 2026.
After graduating as Aeronautical Engineer from the Politecnico di Milano, Domenico followed the VKI Diploma course in 1965-65, same year as late Prof. Claus Sieverding. He obtained the VKI Diploma with Honours, for his study of a 2-D wall jet in a counterflowing stream, conducted under supervision of late Professor Paul Colin, Associate Director of the VKI.
He then went back to Italy to perform his military service, and returned to the VKI at end December 1968, to work as an assistant of Prof. Colin. I had started my DC in December 1968 and met him at that time, and for some months we shared a furnished apartment in Saint Gilles (knowing the very special original character of Domenico, that event was an unforgettable experience), until he married Maria Grazia Miglio, an Italian architect (some years after Maria Grazia also worked at the VKI Drawing Office to prepare graphs, which at the time were done by hand …). I am very grateful to them, as they very often hosted me during these early years, and we did numerous touristic trips together.
For the 1970-71 year, Domenico joined the VKI Faculty as Assistant Professor, in what was then called the “Low Speed Laboratory”, headed by “Monsieur Colin”. Indeed, at the time the three present departments did not exist (they were created for the 1971-72 academic year). Instead, there were the Low Speed Lab, the Supersonic and Hypersonic Labs, headed by Professor Jean Ginoux, the Hypervelocity Lab, headed by Professor Bryan Richards, the Low-Density lab, headed by Professor Jean Smolderen with Professor John Wendt, and the Turbomachinery Lab, headed by Professor Jacques Chauvin.
In the Low-Speed Lab Domenico, first as research assistant then as Assistant Professor, continued his study on 2-D wall jets in counterflowing stream, extending it to the 3-D case of a round jet impinging on a fat plate, always in a counterflowing stream. He also initiated the use of hot wires for the measurement of turbulent flows, and also their application as sensors of concentration of a tracer gas in an airflow; the simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer in the L1-A Low Speed Wind Tunnel (at that time we were calling it “The Escher Wyss”, from the name of its manufacturer); the application to the study of urban microclimates. Another important part of his research was on cooling towers for conventional and nuclear power plants, and on the tricks to simulate them in wind tunnel tests, despite the huge difference in Reynolds number between reality and scaled down tests. He always had very original ideas, an example being the study of “solar ponds”, using a special liquid whose density was increasing with temperature, so that the heated fluid sank down, thus optimizing the energy capture.
A very important achievement of Professor Olivari was the modification of the L10-B wind tunnel, carried out in 19XX, conducted in collaboration with Industrial Engineer Félix Thiry (Regretfully Felix also passed away recently at age 89, on July 23rd, 2026). Indeed, at its construction in 1947-49 the L-1 facility had three interchangeable test sections: the present L1-A, the L1-B, a 2-meter diameter closed test section with top speed 90m/s, and the L1-C, a 3-meter diameter vertical test section for the study of aircraft spin. The modification consisted in the demolition of the 2-meter diameter high speed test section and its replacement with a new one, the present 3 m x 2 m section which has been extensively used since then for environmental studies, becoming one of the most important tools used for research contract work.
Domenico was then promoted Associate Professor in 1976 and Professor in 1982. He became Head of the Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics dept. in 19xx. He was replaced at that position by Prof. Michel Riethmuller in 1990 but remained in the same department. He retired in January 2000 at age 60 – he told me at that time “I have already endured four directors … that’s enough, not a fifth one!
After his retirement from the VKI, Domenico founded in 2003 his own consulting company AirSR, integrated in the group “Philippe Samyn & Partners” and continued working with architects. He also was advisor to the Walloon Region and to International Polar Foundation which designed and constructed the Belgian Antarctic Sation “Princess Elisabeth”, both subjects being also studied at the VKI by professors Jérome Anthoine and Jeroen van Beeck respectively. He finally stopped his activities with AirSr in 2017.
Lately Domenico, who was legally separated from his wife Maria Grazia since decades, was in a retirement home in Wavre. He had walking problems, needed a rolling walker, and, worse, had memory problems, sometimes not recognizing people. He caught pneumonia somedays ago, was recovered in hospital, but did not survive. He lives two daughters, Elisabetta and Cristina, with three and two children respectively
Prepared by Mario Carbonaro (DC 1968, and Domenico’s friend)