1. Introduction
Institute of Aerospace Structures is one of the main institutes of the School of Astronautics and also the important part of “Flight Vehicle Design” National Key Disciplines. We offer the Bachelor program -in Flight Vehicle Design and Engineering, which is one of key majors recognized by Ministry of Industry and Information and one of the first batch experimental majors under the training program of “excellent engineers” of Ministry of Education. In this institute, there are several disciplines, like System Design of Flight Vehicle, Structure Design of Flight Vehicle, etc. The institute enrolls about 50 undergraduates and 20 full-time postgraduates every year. Besides, the part-time program for postgraduates is also available. Our institute has trained about 200 students who have obtained their master and doctor degree, including Ma Jia who has been awarded the “National May 4th Youth Medal”. Meanwhile, the institute undertakes a large number of important research projects in the fields of astronautics and aeronautics engineering and science, and hence provides a critical support for the astronautics, and aeronautics in China.
Currently, we have 15 permanent staff, including 3 professors/doctoral supervisors, 5 associate professors, 2 senior engineers, 1 senior experimentalist, 2 instructors, and 2 lab managers. In particular, there is one double hired member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (Wang Xingzhi) and three double hired research fellows/doctoral advisors.
2. Disciplines
The discipline of our institute belongs to Flight Vehicle Design national key discipline. During the tenth, eleventh and twelfth National Five-Year Plans, the institute won the discipline construction program support of “211” and “985” project from Ministry of Education. The total investment funding is more than 15 million RMB. Professional laboratories of “Aircraft System Integrated Design”, “Combat Simulation and Efficacy Evaluation” and “Flight Vehicle Mechanics and Environmental Testing Laboratory” are established. In particular, “Flight Vehicle Mechanics and Environmental Testing Laboratory” is the engineering experiment center in Shaanxi province. Laboratories of “Aircraft System Integrated Design” and “Combat Simulation and Performance Evaluation” belong to defense-related science and technology key laboratory of aircraft flight dynamics.
3. Education
Institute of Aerospace Structures has the post-doctoral research stations and an impeccable student training system for bachelors, masters and doctor’s degree. The institute undertakes the teaching task for the undergraduates, the training tasks for the postgraduates and the implementing of the “Excellent Engineers” training plan. In the last five years, the technique-related courses, such as “Missile System and Structural Design” and “Flight Vehicle Structural Dynamics”, are chosen as “National Quality Course” of the Ministry of Education. Moreover, we have won the Second Prize of Teaching Achievement Award in Shaanxi province and won five Teaching Achievement Awards of university level. Many teachers in the institute have been awarded as “the most satisfactory teacher” and “excellent thesis advisor”. There is one person in the institute has nominated as “the optimal doctoral thesis nationwide”.
4. Research
The major educational goal of our institute is to meet the national strategic requirements in the field of aerospace. The researches in the institute are centered on the basic and front research of aerospace flight vehicle system and structure technology. In the last five years, the institute undertakes more than 70 projects, funded by Natural Science Foundation of China, National High-Tech Development Program and Armament Advanced program. The Total scientific research funding is more than 50 million RMB. We have won four provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards, and published more than one hundred papers. Now the main research directions of the institute are as follows:
(1) System Design of Tactical Missile and Guided weapon;
(2) Integrated Design Technology for Next Generation Aerospace Vehicle;
(3) Flight Vehicle Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization Technology;
(4) Weapon System Simulation and Combat Efficacy evaluation technology;
(5) Flight Vehicle Structural Dynamics and Control;
(6) Advanced Material and Structure/Mechanism for Aerospace Engineering;
(7) Large Scale Scientific Computing for Engineering;
(8) Dynamic Testing of Flight Vehicle Structure;
(9) Weapon System Mechanical Environment Simulation Equipment Development.
5. Laboratory
For research, we have established the laboratories of “Aircraft System Integrated Design”, “Combat Simulation and Performance Evaluation” and “Flight Vehicle Mechanics and Environmental Testing Laboratories”. There are lots of equipments in this lab, including Multidisciplinary Integrated Optimization System, Missile Combat Efficacy Evaluation System, Morphing Vehicle Testing System, 160KN Vibration Testing System, 16-Channel Modal Analysis and Data acquisition System and Shock Testing System. The Structural Mechanics Environmental Laboratory which is established by our institute and Jiangsu Dongling Vibration corporation is an attached institution of Xian institute of vibration and a relative larger structural mechanics environmental laboratory in northwest district of China. For teaching, the institute has established a base for the training of excellent engineers of “Aircraft Design and Engineering” together with some engineering institutions like China Airborne Missile Academy. The training base has the training rooms for general design of flight vehicle, structure design and mechanical properties testing and the installation and manufacture of flight vehicle model. This training base is an important platform for practical and innovative capabilities of students.
6. Major Achievements
(1) The software of multidisciplinary design and optimization theoretical system and framework has won the third prize of Science and Technology Award in Shaanxi province in 2010.
(2) The gas driven model of a horizontal impact testing system has won the third prize of national defense science and technology award in 2007.
(3) The gas driven model of a vertical impact testing system has won the third prize of science and technology award in Shaanxi province in 2004.