In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 315: Focus on the core engine first; the military makes concessions; Wu Zhonghua appointed chief engineer.
"What's the point of poaching someone who isn't a key member? Deputy Director Li, have you forgotten that you still hold the position of President of Harbin Institute of Technology? You can't forget your roots just because you've moved to a new unit!"

Xie Wei looked at him with disdain.

"Damn it! I'm resigning from that principal's position right now, if it weren't for..."

Li Rui, who was furious, was about to say that if it weren't for protecting Xie Wei and the school-enterprise office, he wouldn't have been able to hold the position of principal long ago, but in the end, he didn't say it.

"I have to do it even if I have to quit. This is related to Project 10 and the core machine. If the microcomputer for assisting design is developed, I can't guarantee the development schedule, but the design time can be reduced by at least half..."

"really?"

Li Rui was stunned.

Immediately remembering that Xie Wei had never been unreliable since they met, her face fell. "That's the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Most of the people here are from the Chinese Academy of Sciences..."

"What's wrong with the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Coming to our school is not only contributing to the country in the same way, but also cultivating more talents for the country, right? You don't want our school to be surpassed by Tsinghua and Peking University, do you? They have a superior geographical location and receive more national support, while what about us? It's freezing cold in winter, and the national funding we receive is not as much as Tsinghua and Peking University..."

Xie Wei, who knew Li Rui well, knew exactly where his weaknesses lay.

President Li is determined to make Harbin Institute of Technology surpass Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

"Besides, without a lot of experts, how can our school become the number one military industrial university in the country or even the world? By just thinking about it?"

He knew perfectly well that Xie Wei was just making empty promises to him.

But Principal Li felt he couldn't resist eating this pancake.

"Anyway, I can't do anything about it. The school's projects are all based on the most cutting-edge technologies in the world. We have no experience or precedents to follow. If we don't even have someone to lead them, I think it's better to just let things take their course..."

"What kind of attitude is this?! I never said I wouldn't poach people! Let me think about it!"

Li Ruiming knew that Xie Wei was using the threat of abandoning his responsibilities to manipulate him, but he dared not gamble.

What if Xie Wei's words suddenly become a reality?

"Those leaders at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, although they don't swear, they all have bad tempers..."

Li Rui's words surprised Xie Wei. So the old guy had tried to poach people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences before, and it didn't end well for him?

"It's not like we're asking people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to leave CAS. Even if they're at a university, they're still CAS members. We can cooperate and share technology! We'll provide the funding, they'll provide the personnel, and we'll share the results. Wouldn't the leaders of CAS be happy about that? CAS experts who come to our university can hold honorary or adjunct professorships, teach classes for students in their spare time, and the university can easily provide some subsidies, right?"

Upon hearing this, the anger on Li Rui's face vanished instantly.

Yup!

I'm not poaching anyone, I'm just asking for help. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is also short of funding, isn't it?
As for when I will be available to teach students?

That's just the school making arrangements based on their work schedule.

Cooperation, secondment!

That's good; the school now has another group of top experts to train students.

As expected, I hadn't misjudged Xie Wei. He was smart, and the key was that he could do these unethical things in accordance with the policy without even offending anyone.

"Are you going to wait here, or go back to school first?"

Feeling that the leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences might even be grateful to him and owe him a favor, Principal Li instantly transformed into a kind and approachable elder.

"The question of whether it's the core engine or the aero-engine has not yet been answered by the higher authorities."

Xie Wei also knew that the higher-ups wouldn't make decisions so quickly.

However, not being able to determine the chief engineer of a project means that the direction of the project cannot be determined, and the school's resource allocation in this regard cannot be planned from the beginning.

"Let's go back first. It's settled, the person will be here soon."

Li Rui did not attend the discussion meeting because his superiors knew he would support the school's decision without any principles and without being able to give a convincing reason.

"When you have time, you should also put in a good word with the leaders. They must get the core machine."

Anyway, the military will pay for it.

Xie Wei naturally wouldn't consider funding issues.

If there's a slight shortfall, the school can fill it. The fact that the project is located at the school is enough to contribute to the school's talent development.

"..."

Li Rui always felt that Xie Wei was up to no good, so he ignored him.

While Li Rui was still in a daze, Xie Wei had already opened his cabinet and taken out all the good teas that he usually couldn't bear to drink.

Upon seeing this, Li Rui, who had just calmed down, suddenly felt a surge of blood rush to his head:

"What are you doing? I only have that little bit of good tea... You should leave some for me, I haven't even tried the Da Hong Pao yet..."

Before he could stop Xie Wei, Xie Wei had already dashed out of the office.

"You bastard, if you ever come into my office again, I'll break your legs! How did I end up with such a scoundrel!"

"Director Li, who are you cursing?"

Yulihua came from another direction and only saw a figure running away quickly, not knowing who it was.

As a result, upon hearing Li Rui's cursing, he arrived at the door and saw Li Rui looking furious.

I couldn't help but become curious.

Previously, it was only the leaders who angrily scolded Li Rui; when had they ever seen Li Rui so furious?
"Who else could it be but Xie Wei? He just made me get yelled at by a bunch of university leaders, and now he's sending me to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to get yelled at again, and they even confiscated all the tea I usually cherish!"

Although it was a complaint, Yulihua could detect a strong sense of boasting in his words.

"By the way, weren't you at school? Why are you back?"

After showing off, Li Rui didn't even make tea for You Lihua, but went straight to asking him why he had come.

Logically, You Lihua should be at Harbin Institute of Technology now.

"It's all Xie Wei's doing. I just got back and wanted to get some information from you..."

Why not ask Xie Wei?
Yu Lihua felt that Xie Wei was not telling him the truth at all.

If the truth were out, Xie Wei wouldn't have been in the capital for only two days before Long Yaohua specifically called You Lihua back.

"Don't even mention it. I didn't know at first either. It was only these past couple of days when the higher-ups asked me that I found out he never intended to develop a dedicated turbofan engine from the start. He wanted to develop the core engine... You don't need to think too much about it. Even if you don't understand Xie Wei's proposal, just support him..."

"..."

Yulihua felt like he had made a wasted trip.

Li Rui was even less principled towards Xie Wei than Zhang Mingqiu was towards Liu Debao.

"What did I ask for?"

Hearing Yu Lihua's words, Long Yaohua asked in confusion.

"I told Xie Wei about the actual situation of the WS-6 turbofan engine, and I also took him to the 703 Institute to learn about the development of gas turbines there. I originally hoped that he could integrate all the relevant technologies, but who knew that he wanted to work on some kind of core engine..."

You Lihua reported everything he knew to Long Yaohua.

"Regarding the selection of the chief worker, he previously said there wasn't one?"

Yulihua shook his head, "He didn't say, he just produced a list and said he needed these people..."

Got it!
You couldn't get any information from Yulihua either.

"You have conducted in-depth research on aero engines nationwide before this. What are your thoughts on this?"

Long Yaohua said casually.

"There are many domestic aero-engine R&D projects. Turbojet engines have been based on the route of imitation and improvement from the beginning, so they have relatively rich experience, but they lack design experience and there is a big gap in materials compared with foreign countries. As for turbofan engine R&D, whether it is imitation or independent development, it is all a mess. The design of the WS-6 still follows the route of modifying turbojet engines into turbofan engines. I feel that even if we continue to modify it, it will not make any sense. Xie Wei clearly pointed out this point."

Yulihua had no idea how crucial his report was.

It is an undeniable fact that the Air Force urgently needs a powerful turbofan engine, and most of the advanced aircraft under development do not have a matching engine.

Researching the core mechanism takes a long time.

Funding is limited.

The Air Force supports developing the core aircraft, and the demand cannot be put on hold.

"If we develop the core processor, are we confident in our abilities?" Long Yaohua asked, frowning. "Approximately how much funding would be required?"

time!

Funding!

These are all things that the military currently lacks.

"We've never worked on core engines before, so nobody can say for sure whether we're confident. However, this time Harbin Institute of Technology is planning to integrate all the technical data on gas turbines, turbofan engines, and even turbojet engines across the country. That's why he proposed drawing core personnel from various engine R&D teams..."

"Is that so?"

After listening, Long Yaohua's tightly furrowed brows relaxed somewhat. "It seems they've been preparing for this for a while. If they develop the core engine first, what about the engine for Project Ten?"

Although Project No. 10 currently lacks design specifications, the technologies it employs are among the most advanced in the country.

Whether it will be successful or not, even the military doesn't know.

However, research on any branch project is very important for all current fighter jet projects. Any achievement in any one of them can greatly improve the performance of domestic fighter jets.

Otherwise, why would the military leadership agree to invest in this project?
The higher-ups are more concerned with how much technological advancement these projects will bring and their impact on the overall level of science and technology.

"Xie Wei proposed that the engine required for fighter jet design should directly adopt the approach of a core engine + technology demonstrator. This would not only reduce costs but also speed up the process. In the first few years, the main work should have been exploring the theoretical foundation..."

"Project No. 10 is about to enter the formal research and development stage!"

"The WS-6 turbofan engine was modified according to Professor Wu Zhonghua's three-dimensional flow theory..."

These are all solutions proposed by Xie Wei.

Even knowing that the WS-6 turbofan engine had many problems, Xie Wei still insisted on starting with the technological achievements of the WS-6 engine.

"He said the WS-6 lacked a theoretical design foundation... Originally, Harbin Institute of Technology's Galaxy-1 was planned to be used for missile-related simulation calculations. After Project 10 was officially launched, Xie Wei had Liu Debao order another one from the National University of Defense Technology. The Galaxy-1, which is about to be delivered, will first be used for Project 10 and the core machine project..."

Yu Lihua thought for a moment and decided that he should tell Long Yaohua about the various preparatory work that Harbin Institute of Technology had done for Project 10 and the research on the core machine.

It's impossible for the military to allocate funds to Harbin Institute of Technology to purchase Galaxy-1.

For each Galaxy-1 satellite, the data processor was provided by Shanghai Radio Factory No. 14, a subsidiary of Harbin Institute of Technology, and Harbin Institute of Technology still had to pay a cost of 12 million yuan.

"They got two at once?"

Long Yaohua was shocked by Harbin Institute of Technology's large-scale purchase of supercomputers!
Currently, the Galaxy-1 supercomputer, which boasts the fastest computing speed in the country, is developed by the National University of Defense Technology.

Other organizations have no plans to place orders at all.

Too expensive!

"Yes. Xie Wei said that supercomputers must be continuously upgraded. The National University of Defense Technology is currently preparing to develop a supercomputer capable of performing 1 billion calculations per second. Xie Wei suggested that they should consider directly upgrading the Galaxy-1 supercomputer by expanding its capacity and adding core processors..."

What else could Lung Yao-hua say?
No other organization in the country has shown such boldness in purchasing supercomputers.

The immense power of supercomputing, with its high processing speed, is known to both researchers and non-researchers alike; it can accomplish in just one hour what hundreds of people would do in several months.

Otherwise, the country wouldn't have invested so much.

Perhaps other key research institutions should also be equipped with supercomputers?
Long Yaohua asked You Lihua many more questions.

"Go find Comrade Wu Zhonghua first and ask him to go to Harbin Institute of Technology with you. You can give him some information about the project first..."

"Other departments?"

"I will persuade the other leaders."

In this matter, Long Yaohua has always been very cautious, and not just him, all the leaders are cautious.

Project No. 10 must be undertaken.

Without air superiority, ground troops can only be bombed. Nearly thirty years have passed since that war on the peninsula, but the troops still cannot forget it.

The core machine also needs to be developed.

海军目前除了少量051型导弹驱逐舰，54年用每艘17吨黄金的高昂价格从苏联购买的4艘二手07型驱逐舰依然还是主力担当。

With over 400 million square kilometers of territorial waters, how can we maintain territorial security without large-tonnage warships and the ability to install more missiles?
To build large warships, the power system is a problem that must be solved.

Furthermore, it is essential to utilize these projects to master scientific management methods for complex systems engineering.

After receiving the order, You Lihua went directly to the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics and found Wu Zhonghua, who was just over sixty years old and in the prime of his scientific research career.

The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics currently has few research tasks.

Wu Zhonghua's main task was to select manuscripts for the "Journal of Engineering Thermophysics," which was founded in June.

"How do you explain the application of three-dimensional flow theory and Wu's equation in impellers?"

Old Wu looked at You Lihua with surprise.

Yu Lihua didn't tell him the truth; Xie Wei should talk to him about it.

There's no way around it; when communicating with top experts, it's incredibly difficult to answer professional questions.

"When? Let me arrange the work..."

Professor Wu spared no effort in promoting his theory and equations, which had nothing to do with his personal reputation, but rather with the enormous impact that his theory and equations could have.

China's aero-engines and gas turbines lag far behind those of foreign countries. Directly abandoning foreign theories can significantly narrow the gap.

He proposed the establishment of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics in 63, which was approved, but it was not established until this year. However, due to funding issues, there has not been much research.

In 78, he presided over a national training course on the three-dimensional flow theory of turbomachinery at Institute 201. He not only shared his research results without reservation, but also provided the calculation program package for three-dimensional flow of turbomachinery under arbitrary non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates to relevant research institutes, factories and universities in China free of charge.

To date, I have not heard of any project using the ternary flow theory.

"Can we leave tonight?"

Xie Wei's plane is still here, preparing to fly back to Harbin tonight.

With a flight going the same way, Yulihua didn't want to waste time taking the train.

"So urgent? Where are you..."

"We have a project that plans to use your ternary flow theory as the theoretical basis for the design... Before the project starts, we hope you can help provide relevant training to the technical R&D team..."

You have a project?

Upon hearing this, Mr. Wu immediately replied, "I'll arrange the work quickly!"

"Mr. Wu?"

Xie Wei was preparing to leave in the afternoon, but You Lihua told him to wait. Unexpectedly, before he even boarded the plane, he saw You Lihua and Old Wu arrive at the airport together.

"This is?"

Mr. Wu did not know Xie Wei.

"Xie Wei, Deputy Director of the Standardization Office under the Policy and Regulation Department of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, Director of the Industry-University-Research Cooperation Office of Harbin Institute of Technology, and Deputy Director of the University-Enterprise Cooperation Office of Harbin Institute of Technology..."

Yu Lihua introduced him with a long list of titles, especially in front of a big shot like Old Wu.

Xie Wei wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

"You must be Xie Wei! I didn't expect you to be so young!"

Old Wu's words surprised Xie Wei as well.

Is your reputation really that great?

Even Old Wu had heard of his own name?
"On the way here, Director You introduced me to some basic information about Harbin Institute of Technology. I strongly support offering a course on the ternary flow theory at Harbin Institute of Technology..."

What the hell?

Xie Wei looked at You Lihua with a puzzled expression.

I approached Mr. Wu myself so that he could lead the research and development of the core machine!

Whether or not classes are offered is irrelevant once the design is based on the ternary flow theory.
Why doesn't Mr. Wu have to train the designers himself?

When he trains designers, students majoring in power design and engineering thermophysics at the school can audit his classes. Does that mean Professor Wu wouldn't allow them to listen in?
(End of this chapter)