July 27, 2022 is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Mr. Wu Zhonghua . I would like to use this article to miss this outstanding engineering thermal physicist, the founder of the general theory of ternary flow of impeller, and the founder of the discipline of engineering thermal physics.
"The theory developed by the Chinese must first serve the Chinese." - Wu Zhonghua
Hard study and climbed to the peak
1917 On July 27, 1917, Wu Zhonghua was born in Shanghai. He received good education and influence since childhood and formed a character of hard work, seriousness, hard work, rigorousness and persistence. After graduating from high school, it was the moment when the Chinese nation was in danger. He was worried about the fate of the country and chose the path of "industry to save the country". In 1935, he was admitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Tsinghua University. After the " Lugou Bridge Incident " in 1937, Tsinghua University , Peking University , Nankai University , etc. were forced to move south to Changsha, Hunan to form a temporary university. As a student, he also moved south with the school. Soon Nanjing fell and the National Government was displaced. The Chinese nation was at its most dangerous time. He realized that "industrial saving the country" could not save China in front of him, and the most urgent thing was to drive away the invaders. In order to participate in the anti-Japanese war, he and many classmates joined the army and entered the army transportation and logistics school opened by the National Government in 1938 to prepare for the establishment of the mechanized unit in Hunan. At the school, he learned and mastered the technology of driving and repairing trucks and armored vehicles . After more than a year, he served in (new mechanized unit) of the Fifth Army of and served as a lieutenant technician. Since the Fifth Army did not directly participate in the anti-Japanese war, he returned to university in 1939 and continued to study. After graduation in 1940, he stayed at school to teach.
Couple photo during study abroad in the United States
At the end of 1943, he passed the " Boxer Indemnity " public study abroad examination, and studied in the United States with his newlywed wife and classmate Li Minhua of the same grade, and studied in the United States at the MIT (MIT) Graduate School. When choosing to study for a major, he once believed that his motherland was an agricultural country and hoped to study in the major of agricultural mechanization, but because the school no longer recruited graduate students in this major, he changed to the major of internal combustion engine. His wife Li Minhua is studying for a doctoral degree in the Department of Aviation at the same school. As the two of them study at the same time, the burdens brought by children and housework make their studies even more difficult. After studying hard for several years, he obtained a doctorate in science with excellent grades in 1947. In 1948, Li Minhua also completed his studies and became the first female doctorate in the aviation department of the school.
After graduating from Lewis (Lewis) Jet Propulsion Laboratory Work Photo
, Wu Zhonghua and his wife successively applied for the Lewis Jet Propulsion Laboratory (now the Grenn Research Center) to serve as research engineers and research scientists at the US Aviation Advisory Committee (NACA, predecessor of NASA NASA). In the laboratory, he chose the gas turbine research, and began to publish a series of papers in 1950. Among them, the most representative one is the paper published in 1952, which proposed the design and analysis and calculation of the ternary flow of impeller machinery using two types of flow surfaces. Since then, with the rapid development of gas jet engines and large-scale computer technology, ternary flow calculation has become the most advanced calculation method used in impeller machinery design in various countries. The ternary flow general theory of impeller machinery he and he created has also improved its reputation in the field of international impeller machinery. Later, the general theory of impeller machinery ternary flow "Wu's General Theory", and he is known as the founder of the general theory of impeller machinery ternary flow.
Return to China. Founding the subject
Triple-mobility theory manuscript
After returning to Beijing, he accepted the invitation of his teacher and Professor Liu Xianzhou , then vice president of Tsinghua University, to teach in the Department of Dynamics of Tsinghua University. In 1956, he founded the first gas turbine major in the country at Tsinghua University and served as director of the teaching and research department. In the same year, he cooperated with of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to create the predecessor of the Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics - the Dynamics Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as director and researcher.
1960 The Dynamics Research Office was merged into . The Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After the merger, he served as the deputy director of the Institute of Mechanics.In 1970, although he was unable to attend the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Gas Turbine Conference for some reason, the conference still named the general theory of ternary flow of impeller machinery he founded "Wu's General Theory". The conference's evaluation was: In the early 1950s, two major events occurred in the international impeller machinery industry: the invention of computers and the establishment of the "Wu General Theory" of impeller machinery. Professor Wu Zhonghua set a precedent for numerical simulation of ternary flow of impeller machinery, and since then, impeller machinery has flourished.
The heavy responsibility is on your shoulders. He strives to do it for it. He seizes all the time and actively promotes the ternary flow theory and methods of impeller machinery across the country. He has worked in aero engine research institutes and factories in Shenyang and Xi'an for a long time, conducting aviation engine modification design and experiments, explaining the ternary flow theory and its modification design methods, and cultivating talents for factories and research institutes. He stayed in a guesthouse when he went to the factory, and lived in a four-person room and had a canteen like others.
Wu Zhonghua debugged in front of the ultrasonic cascade wind tunnel laboratory bench (1980)
He provided all the knowledge he mastered to domestic research institutes, factories, universities, etc., but when cooperating with foreign countries, he absolutely maintained a national position and rejected a large number of unreasonable requirements.
In 1980, the institute resumed its establishment and was officially named the Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics. Wu Zhonghua served as the director. In the same year, he realized his long-cherished wish of joining the party for many years. After the restoration of the system, his scientific research work became more in-depth.
1981, Vice Premier Wang Zhen visited the compressor test bench set up by Wu Zhonghua
1980, he was specially invited to give a report on "China's energy problems and their ways to solve them by relying on science and technology" at a lecture on science and technology knowledge held by the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. From the perspective of science and technology, he proposed a strategic concept to solve my country's energy problems, and proposed that various energy of different qualities should be allocated and supplied with counterparts, so as to achieve a comprehensive cascade utilization of each. Based on the idea of total energy system, he took the lead in proposing several new energy power system research directions that have a significant impact on my country's economic development. Most of these research directions are included in the national energy field science and technology planning in various periods in my country in different forms.
Old horse in the stable and blessed future generations
In June 1987, due to age reasons, Wu Zhonghua retired from the position of director. At the end of the year, unfortunately I was diagnosed with liver cancer . I was transferred to Shanghai for surgery in early 1988. During the postoperative recovery period, the ward became his office. In the ward, he kept writing reports, advocating, and receiving relevant personnel, and proposed to carry out research on gas steam combined cycle and other total energy systems in China. As soon as he recovered, he immediately started working. In 1990, he was invited to the United States for four months to give lectures and systematically explained the ternary flow theory of impeller machinery. Then we visited the internationally renowned aero engine research institute - Von Carmen Institute (VKI) of , Belgium. During this period abroad, he completed the report " sub-sound , transsound impeller machinery binary, and ternary swirling flow general theory". This paper was officially published in 1993 and is numbered NASA CR-4496. This is Wu Zhonghua's last paper, and his famous paper NACA TN 2604 was born more than 40 years ago.
Due to overwork, the ruthless disease hit again, and the cancer cells metastasized to the lungs. On the one hand, he actively cooperated with the treatment, but on the other hand, he still worked constantly. 1992
1989, Wu Zhonghua discussed with students at home
Although Mr. Wu Zhonghua has left, the theory he founded still shines in the field of impeller machinery in the world. His patriotism, dedication and persistence to the cause, and his contribution to China's engineering thermal physics are always worth remembering.
Source: Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
