AWARDEE OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES PRIZE

SHEN ZHIYUN

Abstract

Prof. Shen Zhiyun, a rail vehicle specialist, was born in May 1929, Changsha, Hunan Province. In 1952 he graduated from Tangshan Jiaotong University (now Southwest Jiaotong University), and then was appointed here as faculty member up to present. From 1957 to 1961 he has been to Russia and obtained his Doctor's Degree there. In 1982～1984 he visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA. He was elected as member of The Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991. He became member of The Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1994. Now he is professor in The National Traction Power Laboratory, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P. R. China.
In 1983, co-authored with other two American professors, he published the Non-Linear Wheel/Rail Creep Force Model at the 8th Symposium of the International Association of Vehicle System Dynamics (IAVSD). This model was broadly used in many countries, and was called in this field as “Shen-Hedrick-Elkin's Theory". From 1981 to 1991, continuously six times his works in the field of Vehicle System Dynamics were accepted as invited papers at the symposia of IAVSD. In 1993, he was elected as chairman of the 13th IAVSD Symposium and very well organized this international conference.
In 1985～1989 he directed the research group of  “A study of the theory and applications for the forced steering bogies", and successfully produced the first in China forced steering freight bogie, which can completely avoid the wheel flange wear. This new type of freight bogie passed the technical appraises and was included in the list of products, recommended for manufacturing. For this achievement Shen Zhiyun was awarded by the Chinese Railway Ministry with a Third Grade Prize of Science and Technology Advances in 1995.
In the last ten years Shen Zhiyun devoted his efforts mainly to the foundation of the National Traction Power Laboratory, the only state-key laboratory in the area of railway technology in China. He constructed a full-scale rail vehicle testing roller rig, which excellently combines rolling (to simulate forward speed) with vibration (to simulate the track irregularities) of the roller. It is the largest and most complicated modern test facility for rail vehicles all over the Asia-Pacific districts. Since its foundation, almost all types of newly designed locomotives and cars in China have been tested and improved on this roller rig.  Due to the possibility provided by this roller rig, Shen Zhiyun carried out a serious of full-scale model experiments on wheel-rail interaction, which are initiative in this field of research all over the world.
This roller-testing rig has been awarded with the First Grade Prize of Science and Technology Advances by the Chinese Railway Ministry in 1998, and with the National First Grade Prize by the National Prize Committee in 1999. Shen Zhiyun is the first awardee of all these prizes.
Shen Zhiyun always pays great attention to the education of young processors. More than 30 highly qualified Masters and Doctors graduated from his laboratory. For this contribution he has been awarded with the National First Grade Prize of Education Achievements in 1997.
Shen  Zhiyun is noted for his meticulous scholarship and good style of study. He published more than 100 articles and completed more than 30 research projects, making brilliant contributions towards modernization of Chinese railways.