Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce announced on December 9 they had put to pen to paper on a four-year agreement with Virginia Tech for "pre-competitive research focusing on the impact of environmental contaminants on aeroengine operation and testing"
"At Virginia Tech, we are honored to be given the opportunity to build on the foundation of our existing academic alliances by partnering with Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce on this project,” said Changmin Son, the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth professor at Virginia Tech.
The deal, according to a statement published by Pratt & Whitney, "continues longstanding collaboration between Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney on issues that are common across the aerospace industry".
"Virginia Tech has the right expertise and facilities to help us make an impact as the joint research team will investigate the fundamentals of particle properties as the particles pass through the engine, with the goal of improving analysis methods to better predict those effects",said Frank Preli, vice president, Propulsion and Materials Technologies, Pratt & Whitney.