Beijing, September 18, 2007
During the Beijing air show, the SAFRAN Group awarded the annual SAFRAN Prize for research in China. This prize recognizes the best theses in Chinese universities concerning the Group’s areas of business. The SAFRAN Prize was awarded for the fifth year in a row.
The 2007 SAFRAN Prize was given to the two prizewinners today by François Courtot, Senior Vice President, International Development at SAFRAN, at a ceremony attended by Mr.Yves Leclère, Senior Vice President, Aircraft Equipment branch of SAFRAN, Mr. René GAUDIN, Director of Aviation Program & Cooperation of DGAC, Mr. MENG Xiang Tai, Vice President of BUAA in charge of S&T, Mr. Jean DOREY, Director of Beijing Central Institute of Technology (Ecole Centrale de Pekin).
The first prize, worth 50,000 RMB (5,000 euros), was awarded to Dr Li Zhiping of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) for his thesis on “Experimental Investigation of realizing Unsteady Cooperative flow in Axial-flow Compressor”. Le Dr Li took an experimental view of unsteady flows through a compressor stage. He showed that adjusting the number of blades between the IGVs and the rotating stage helped improve flow behavior, with a significant improvement in the compressor stage surge margin. This highly original work greatly improves our understanding of the effect of the number of blades on the stability of the compressor stage, and will be very useful in the design of aircraft engines.
His thesis advisor was Professor Lu Ya-jun.
The second prize, worth 20,000 RMB (2,000 euros), was awarded to Dr Lu Xingen of the Polytechnic University of Northwest Xian for his thesis on “Flow Instability and its Passive Control Strategies in Axial-flow Compressor”. He studied innovative strategies to improve surge margins for axial compressors, which is very important in the design of high-performance compressors.
His thesis advisor was Professor Chu Wuli.
SAFRAN has invited the two prizewinners and their thesis advisors to France to meet specialists in their field and pave the way for future collaboration.
The SAFRAN Prize is part of the partnership strategy that the Group has developed since 2002 with Chinese universities, covering training and research. It concerns the training of Chinese engineers in France, and the development of joint research with Chinese laboratories and research organizations. |
