Rugby students win top engineering award for Alstom study

Engineering-minded students at Rugby High School recently proved their merit after winning a top national engineering prize for their Alstom study.

The four girls, who are all studying for their A-levels, won the Royal Academy of Engineering Prize at the Big Bang Fair, the UKs biggest celebration of science and engineering. They won for demonstrating the best application of engineering principles in the National Science & Engineering Competition.

The girls project saw them undertake a detailed research study for Alstom in Rugby.   As part of the students work, they used a scale model to identify a calibration system to assess running tip clearance in steam turbine blades used to make electricity in power stations, creating computer software to analyse the results.  

The group fought off competition from 155 other entries to be awarded £500 and a special experience prize provided by Expedition Engineering, designers of landmark structures such as the London 2012 Olympic Velodrome.  They received their prize from celebrity physicist Professor Brian Cox at a ceremony in London.

One of the students said: Alstom gave us this challenge as the school has an ongoing link with them. We all loved doing this project which wasnt part of the school curriculum; we did it in our own time