Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

The sky was beginning to lighten, but the temporary drawing room in the third workshop was still brightly lit.

A huge sheet of blueprint number zero lay on the table, densely covered with lines and data.

Su Zheng held a pencil in his hand, his eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was unusually clear.

Although Director Yang and Deputy Director Li were so tired they were practically swaying, they still forced themselves to sit in the corner, keeping a close eye on what was happening.

"Nonsense! Absolutely nonsense!"

An angry voice shattered the tranquility of the drawing room.

Engineer Liu from the technical department pushed open the door and entered, waving a drawing that Su Zheng had just finished, his beard trembling with anger.

He was one of the few genuine college graduates in the factory, with a formal academic background. He usually valued rules and theories the most and always looked down on Su Zheng, who was an "outsider".

Hearing that the Soviet Union was going to "modify" German machinery, he couldn't sleep and rushed over before dawn to "oversee" it. When he saw the blueprints, he almost fainted from anger.

"Su Zheng! Are you drawing some kind of ghost talisman?!"

Engineer Liu slammed the blueprints on the table, pointed at a hydraulic circuit, and roared, "Hybrid hydrostatic pressure? Who taught you to design it like this? The original hydrostatic oil film thickness is 0.03 mm, and you actually changed it to 0.01 mm here? And you even added four spiral oil return grooves? Do you know how much fluid resistance this will generate? If the oil pressure doesn't rise, the spindle will seize up directly. Can you take responsibility for that?"

Factory Director Yang and Deputy Factory Director Li were startled by the shout and quickly came over.

"Engineer Liu, what's wrong? Is there a problem with these drawings?" Factory Manager Yang asked anxiously.

"It's more than just problematic! It's downright utter nonsense!"

Engineer Liu pushed up his glasses, his face full of disdain. "Factory Manager, I know Su Zheng is a skilled fitter, but design is a science, not something you can guess based on feel! The structure he modified completely violates the principles of fluid mechanics! According to the Reynolds equation, the load-bearing capacity of this structure simply cannot meet the design requirements!"

Upon hearing "violates scientific principles," Director Yang felt a little uneasy.

After all, Engineer Liu is a professional, while Su Zheng, although capable, has never been to university.

Su Zheng put down his pencil, slowly straightened up, and rubbed his sore neck.

He wasn't angry; instead, he looked at Engineer Liu with great interest.

"Engineer Liu, are you saying I don't understand fluid mechanics?"

Su Zheng smiled faintly, "Then could you tell me what formula you used to calculate the viscosity change of non-Newtonian fluids under high-speed shear?"

"What?"

Engineer Liu was taken aback. "Non-Newtonian fluid? Lubricating oil is a Newtonian fluid, its viscosity is a constant..."

"wrong."

Su Zheng picked up a piece of chalk and walked to the small blackboard used for meetings.

"At low speeds, lubricating oil does indeed approximate a Newtonian fluid. However, at high shear rates exceeding 3000 rpm, the oil molecule chains are stretched, exhibiting a significant shear thinning effect. At this point, it becomes a non-Newtonian fluid."

As Su Zheng spoke, he wrote a complex system of differential equations on the blackboard.

frac{partial}{partial x}left(frac{h^3}{eta}frac{partial p}{partial x}right)+ frac{partial}{partial z}left(frac{h^3}{eta}frac{partial p}{partial z}right)= 6Ufrac{partial h}{partial x}

"This is the general form of the Reynolds equation."

Su Zheng tapped the blackboard, "But for the 'dynamic and static pressure' problem we need to solve, we must introduce the temperature-viscosity relationship and elastic deformation."

He quickly wrote down an even more complex formula:

eta = eta_0 e^{-beta(T-T_0)}

h = h_0 + delta(p)

"You see, the flaw in the original design is right here."

Su Zheng pointed to delta(p) (elastic deformation) in the formula, "German designers overlooked the minute elastic deformation of the bearing under high-pressure oil film. This is not a problem under low load, but under the high-load conditions in our factory, this deformation will cause the oil film stiffness to decrease by 30%. This is the fundamental reason why the machine is 'congenitally disabled'."

As Liu looked at the symbols on the blackboard, his initially disdainful expression gradually froze.

He could understand the Reynolds equation, but he had never seen this "modified Reynolds equation" that introduced thermal effects and elastic deformation.

This...this is cutting-edge fluid mechanics content!

"And my design..."

Su Zheng pointed to the spiral groove on the drawing, "It utilizes this elastic deformation. When the oil flows through the spiral groove, it generates an additional dynamic pressure effect, which perfectly offsets the stiffness loss caused by the deformation of the bearing. This is called 'dynamic and static pressure complementarity'."

"Calculations show that the improved spindle stiffness will increase by 2.5 times, rotational accuracy will increase by one order of magnitude, and temperature rise will decrease by 15 degrees."

After Su Zheng finished speaking, he threw down the chalk and clapped his hands.

"Mr. Liu, the data is right here. If you think there's a problem with my calculations, please feel free to point it out."

The drawing room was deathly silent.

Everyone was looking at Engineer Liu.

Engineer Liu's face flushed red and then turned pale, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He held the blueprint, his hands trembling slightly.

He wanted to refute it and find loopholes in Su Zheng's formula.

But he sadly discovered that Su Zheng's deductive logic was as rigorous as a sophisticated machine, flawless.

What terrified him even more was that the parameter correction coefficients that Su Zheng casually wrote down were surprisingly consistent with the "empirical values" that Soviet experts had mentioned in their lectures!

Where did this young man come from?

"This...this..."

After stammering for a while, Engineer Liu finally took a deep breath, like a deflated balloon, and said, "This formula... is fine."

"What? No problem?" Factory Director Yang exclaimed in surprise.

"Not only is there no problem..."

Engineer Liu looked up at Su Zheng with a complicated expression. "Moreover... it's even more accurate than the original manufacturer's calculations. If it can really be made according to this, the performance will indeed be improved by a lot."

Hearing this, Director Yang and Deputy Director Li were completely relieved.

Even the most picky Engineer Liu was convinced, so what else is there to say?

Factory Director Yang glanced at the clock on the wall; it was three in the morning.

Without hesitation, he turned around and went back to his office, then picked up the phone and dialed the private number of the ministry leader's home.

Although it was impolite to call at this hour, he had to report this "good news," or rather, this "amazing bet," as soon as possible.

"Hey...Minister, it's me, Yang Weiguo."

"...I know what time it is! But I have something to report! Comrade Su Zheng has proposed a radical modification plan for a 'hybrid dynamic and static pressure spindle'... Yes, that means completely modifying the German machine! Engineer Liu just verified the calculations, and it's theoretically feasible! Moreover, the performance will be greatly improved!"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Factory Director Yang was on tenterhooks.

Finally, a dignified voice rang out, slightly hoarse from just waking up, but more so with a sense of decisiveness:

"Yang Weiguo, listen to me carefully. Since the theory is sound, let him get to work! If he really succeeds, it will be a major breakthrough for our country's machine tool industry! If anything goes wrong, I'll cover for him! But if he succeeds, I'll personally support him!"

"Yes, sir! Mission accomplished!"

Factory Director Yang hung up the phone excitedly.

With the imperial edict in hand, Director Yang instantly straightened his back.

"Su Zheng!"

As soon as he returned to the workshop, Director Yang walked up to Su Zheng and patted him hard on the shoulder:

"I just checked with the department, and they said you can go all out! Just tell them what you need!"

Go for it?

Su Zheng smiled slightly upon hearing this and pointed to the core component on the blueprint.

"Now that we have the blueprints, the next step is manufacturing. The spindle core needs a surface roughness of Ra0.01 and a roundness error of less than 0.5 micrometers."

"What?!"

Engineer Liu, who had just finished calculating the data, came over for a look and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets:

"0.5 micrometers? This... how is this possible? Our factory's best grinding machine can only achieve a precision of 3 micrometers! The entire factory... no, the entire city of Beijing doesn't have equipment that can produce that level of precision!"

"Can't we lower the standards a bit?" Deputy Factory Director Li was also anxious.

"cannot."

Su Zheng said firmly, "Even a slight reduction in precision results in a defective product. This is the core of hydrostatic spindles; without sufficient precision, the oil film cannot be established."

"What should we do then?"

"If the equipment can't do it, then rub it by hand."

Su Zheng stretched out his hands and examined them under the light. They were long, steady hands, seemingly without a trace of trembling.

"What machines can't do, humans can. As long as your hands are steady and your mind is calm, 0.5 micrometers is not the limit."

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

How can you achieve a precision of 0.5 micrometers by hand?

This is simply a fantasy!

But looking at Su Zheng's extremely confident eyes, a strange sense of anticipation rose in everyone's hearts—

Perhaps, this madman really can do it?