In February, our first year MRes Future Propulsion and Power students completed the second mini-project of Lent term. This new project is an extension of the well-established Cambridge mini-project that has run successfully over the past 5 years as part of the MRes Gas Turbine Aerodynamics course. During the 3 weeks the students redesigned the stator of a single stage compressor rig using different design tools, from 2D & 3D to Neural Networks methods. The cohort were split into groups and each of these groups were given a different design target. Once completed the new designs were 3D printed and tested experimentally using the yellow compressor at the Whittle Laboratory. In this photo the students are re-assembling the rig, ready to test and analyse the results of their newly designed stator blades. This project builds on cutting-edge rapid test techniques developed over the past 5 years with Rolls-Royce.
