The assets and resources department includes all the techical support serving the research : workshop, design office, instrumentation service including electronics support, stock, electrician, facilities and test setups
This service includes development of websites (vki, conferences), infography and photography works. Graphic design tools are used to create layouts for specific VKI publications, such as posters, advertisments, booklets, folders.
The metal and woodworking shops are equipped with a wide range of machine tools (lathes, milling, reaming and grinding machines) and of welding equipment. Most of the units are provided with digital reading and four of them are numerically controlled.
They are operated by skilled personnel to manufacture high-precision wind tunnel models and new test section and rigs needed by the VKI departments. A new lathe and a large vertical table saw were recently added to the existing equipment. A "high-precision mechanics" section was developed over the last years and its competence is used for construction of dedicated instrumentation (fast response and miniature probes, heat flux and temperature gauges, etc...) and for non conventional components and assemblies.
The VKI has a 120-seat conference room, shown on the top photograph, three meeting rooms and various smaller classrooms. The conference room is fully equipped with audio equipment, LCD projector, overhead projector and slide projector. Each of the other rooms is equipped with an overhead projector, and three shared LCD projectors are available. The computer classroom is equipped with 8 PCs (Windows and Linux compatible) for sixteen students and one PC connected to a data projector for the teacher.
Doctoral candidates and research engineers are accommodated by groups of two or three in separate offices. Each student attending the diploma course or participating in the short training programme has an individual desk in one of the large study rooms as shown on the bottom photograph.
The VKI Library is a specialized technical library which contains about 3200 books, 90 000 reports and 300 bound conference proceedings, as well as about 3500 VKI publications.
It currently subscribes to 45 periodicals.
The reports section is particularly important and includes a comprehensive holding of publications from universities and major aeronautical / aerospace organizations thereby providing a service in this specialization which is unequalled in the country.
The library uses a computerized database. It is also connected to several bibliography databases, in particular to the ESA-IRS, allowing computerized document search. It also has an online access to the major technical libraries in the world and has the possibility to order directly technical documents and books.
