Postgraduate Students from Leading European Universities Arrive in Samara to Obtain Fundamental Knowledge in Engine Building

On Monday, July 15, the full-time stage of  International Summer School "GTE Samara Summer School 2019" started. It is held under the auspices of the European Union in the framework of the 8th  EU Research and Innovation Framework Program "Horizon 2020" and the International Project ExPerTISE (Experimentally Validated by Turbine Mechanical Integrity and Structural Dynamics for Europe).

Samara National Research University is the only Russian university included in this international project. It takes part in it at the invitation of the European Universities Consortium as a partner in the field of high-profile specialized education.

Within the framework of the programme, postgraduate students study not in one, but in several leading universities of the world, each of which represents its profile competencies. At the end of the programme at least 15 doctoral students should be prepared.

The project envisages the holding of summer schools. So, in 2018, prospective doctoral students were accepted in London. In 2019, 11 postgraduate students from France, Italy, Great Britain and other countries will arrive in Samara for deep immersion into the subject of aircraft engine design.

In addition to postgraduate students, two professors Loic Salles and Flip Zaoral from Imperial College London (Imperial College) and Ostrava Technical University (VSB Technical University of Ostrava) respectively will also take part in the summer school.

"As part of the ExPerTISE project, the applied aspects of the operation of aircraft engine parts are being studied. During the training abroad, the attention is paid to a particular direction. Foreign postgraduate students who will come to us have narrow specificity of research – for example, theoretical studies of friction in one element of an aircraft engine, – said one of the school’s supervisors, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Aircraft Engine Construction and Design Renat Badykov. – Our education is designed to give a holistic picture  both of the work of all the major components of the aircraft engine, and the work of a specific investigated structural element within the entire engine".

The training will last for three weeks and will be held in three stages. During the first week of the GTE Summer School, postgraduate students will have to study the design of aircraft engines and get acquainted with the extensive collection of engines at Samara University. The participants will focus on the design features and conditions of operation of the rotor system elements of a gas turbine engine.

The second week is devoted to the discussion of the real problems that engineers face with in production, and to the finding of solutions. During this period, there will be lectures, practical classes, seminars, laboratory works on tribology (the science of materials friction). Besides, the school participants will be able to ask questions to the representatives of the Russian industry: in particular, to Deputy General Designer of JSC “Kuznetsov” Evgeny Kocherov.

During the third week, the school participants will work with real test sets at the base of the design and design of aircraft engines. They will learn to simulate the dynamic processes of rotary engine systems and conduct some experimental research.

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In the framework of the International Project ExPerTISE, in 2018-2020, universities and research centres organize ten summer schools on the dynamics of rotary systems elements of gas turbine engines. Doctoral students attend schools of all universities, which distributed the topics among themselves in such a way as to cover almost all issues of modeling and analysis of  the rotor system dynamics of a modern engine.

In addition to  Samara University, eight leading European universities, three research centres and the world's leading engine manufacturing firms - Rolls-Royce PLC (the UK), NEC Deutschland GmbH (Germany), Doosan Skoda Power (the Czech Republic), SNECMA (France), General Electric Deutschland Holding (Germany), Nuovo Pignone SRL (Italy) and SAFRAN (France) participate in the international project.