Rolls-Royce Celebrates 10th Year Of Imperial College Link
8 September 2000
Rolls-Royce Celebrates 10th Year Of Imperial College Link
LONDON, Sept. 7 Rolls-Royce plc is marking the
10th anniversary of starting its University Technology Centre (UTC) with
London's Imperial College with a special presentation by the company's most
senior engineer, Director of Engineering and Technology Phil Ruffles, to
Imperial College's Rolls-Royce UTC director Professor David Ewins.
This UTC, which specialises in vibration, receives substantial funding
from Rolls-Royce to undertake specialist research into technologies that have
a direct impact on future engine designs and improvements to the current
engine range.
Led by Professor Ewins, the UTC comprises around ten full-time research
staff and post-graduate research students working to the direction of
Rolls-Royce. The company's co-ordinator is vibration specialist Jeff Green,
who said: "The Centre also attracts typically a further 10-12 researchers
funded from other sources -- such as European technology programmes --
carrying out research in similar engineering disciplines.
"Research engineers in our businesses determine the work to be undertaken
in the centre. My task is to ensure the Imperial UTC work is consistent with
our overall strategy and has an impact on our products and processes. In my
view the UTC has certainly delivered the benefits from all we have invested
during the last decade."
Research links with Professor Ewins' group at Imperial College date back
to 1967, but it was 1990 before the formal agreement for the UTC was signed.
It was the second Rolls-Royce UTC to be created. A total of 20 centres have
now been established, undertaking a wide range of fundamental engineering
research.
Phil Ruffles said: "University Technology Centres are a fundamental part
of our research activities. They not only provide us with well-equipped
facilities and high-calibre people to move our understanding forward in key
engineering areas, but also offer meaningful research to top graduate and
post-graduate engineering students, which ensures high quality within the pool
of future engineers we ourselves will draw from.
"A key value of a strong academic technology base is that it helps to
maintain the UK's pioneering cutting edge in key industries where we already
lead the world -- such as gas turbine development and manufacture."
There are four main strands of Rolls-Royce gas turbine research activity
undertaken at the Imperial College UTC -- aero-elasticity, blade "mistuning",
whole-engine dynamics and model validation for rotor dynamics.
The UTC has provided a range of much-needed information in the area of
vibration, and its work has made some significant breakthroughs. The major
impact has been in influencing turbo-machinery blading design, particularly
for fans and high-pressure turbines.
Rolls-Royce University Technology Centres
In just a decade, University Technology Centres have established
themselves as the vehicle by which Rolls-Royce formally engages the academic
community to advance its own engineering research. Twenty UTCs have been
formed in that time, looking into subjects as varied as materials, combustion,
design, noise and vibration.
This strong network was established by Phil Ruffles, now the company's
Director of Engineering and Technology. Eleven years ago, he commissioned a
survey of the research it was sponsoring within universities. The study
showed a disparate, sprawling picture spread across many university
departments, with little contractual obligation and often supported by
unrealistic financial resources
Mr. Ruffles explained: "It became obvious we needed a co-ordinated
university research programme focused in fewer, larger, proven academic
centres whose commitment would be reinforced by a long-term business agreement
with us. The UTC is what grew out of this, and it has been a tremendous
success both in terms of progressing innumerable strands of our own
fundamental engineering research, and in further establishing centres of
excellence in specific engineering disciplines -- which benefits everyone.
"UTCs have also proved instrumental in strengthening the academic base in
these disciplines, the spin-off benefit of which is to create a larger pool of
highly-talented engineers from which we can select our own future life-blood.
The name of Rolls-Royce, and our specific UTC involvement, means some will
come to us -- many with existing understanding and knowledge of our products."
Each UTC concentrates academic expertise in a particular field that is
identified as key to the company's long-term capability acquisition strategy.
It has a director, a senior academic, from the university, and a co-ordinator
for Rolls-Royce.
A core team of research staff and students operates as a dedicated unit,
directed and supported by Rolls-Royce engineers through the co-ordinator. It
pursues a rolling five-year programme to assure long-term financial support,
and the forward horizon of its work is not allowed to drop below three years,
allowing the UTC director to recruit and maintain a high-quality research
team.
Generic research topics undertaken by Rolls-Royce UTCs include
performance, aerothermal systems and aerodynamics, control and systems
engineering, software development, various materials developments, vibration
and elasticity, noise, materials damping, combustion processes, transmissions,
solid mechanics, power engineering, design, heat transfer and, most recently,
manufacturing technology.
Some universities are involved in more than one UTC. Those involved in at
least one are Oxford, Imperial College, Loughborough, Cambridge, Cranfield,
Birmingham, Swansea, Sheffield, York, Sussex, Strathclyde, Nottingham and
Southampton.
Research links go back to the 1960s, and many of the early UTCs were
formalisations of these relationships. Eight of the current UTCs were
launched more than eight years ago, and mature UTCs typically broaden their
spectrum of activities beyond the core of Rolls-Royce sponsored work, taking
on long-term activities -- often in collaboration with other UK or European
partners -- to augment the short-to-medium term Rolls-Royce projects.
New fields are still being identified, however, and new UTCs are
exemplified by an exhaustive selection process and high-quality proposals.
UTCs now contribute by far the majority of university-funded work, which
represents a significant -- but not dominant -- share of total Rolls-Royce
research funding. Last year's creation of DARPs (Defence and Aerospace
Research Partnerships) is another example of making such funds go farther
still.