Dr Alistair John and Professor Ning Qin, two academics in IPE and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, have received awards for a written paper in The Royal Aeronautical Society Journal.
Their paper, titled ‘Using shock control bumps to improve engine intake performance and operability’ is about optimising the shape of jet engine intakes to improve their performance. Their research shows that by optimising the geometry of the engine intake, separation can be avoided at large angles of attack, allowing engine intakes to be redesigned to be both shorter and more lightweight, thereby reducing fuel consumption whilst maintaining intake performance. The research was carried out with Rolls-Royce and a patent has been granted based on this work.
The paper has received two written paper awards: one for being amongst the best papers published in 2020, receiving a bronze written paper award, and the other a young person's award for Alistair for the best paper in the journal by a lead author under 30.
Alistair commented: “I’m really grateful to RAeS for recognizing our paper with these awards. I’d like to thank my co-authors Professors Ning Qin and Shahrokh Shahpar for their support on this particular project and as my supervisors over the years. I’d also like to thank RAeS, the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Rolls-Royce for the support which allowed me to undertake my PhD and carry out this research.
Ning added: “Alistair is the leading author for this significant paper and he certainly deserves the young author best paper award from the society. The investigation reported in the paper started from an interesting discussion with Rolls Royce engineers in the engine installation department on the topic of the challenges facing future large aircraft engines during take-off and landing. This paper is a good reflection of a successful collaboration between academia and industry in solving real-world problems.
The RAeS Aeronautical Society Written Paper Prizes celebrate papers that exemplify the best in terms of advancing, promoting and communicating aerospace art, science and engineering and we congratulate Ning and Alistair on this achievement.