MEMBER SERVICES
ROMAC faculty members have been working in the
area of rotating machinery analysis for over thirty years. Many technical
journal articles,
reports,
computer programs, and
experimental results have been generated by the group. A complete description of the
Industrial Program is available upon request as well as a
list of reports (over 500) and numerous
computer programs.
All previous reports and computer programs are immediately available to new
ROMAC members. ROMAC computer programs and test results are used regularly by
our
Industrial members.
Annual Meetings
Annual meetings are held in Charlottesville, one of the member
company locations, or some other suitable place to present the results of the
year's research and to discuss industrial machinery and control problems with
the member companies. Membership includes two free annual meeting
registrations for representatives from each member company. Each company is
requested to make a short presentation on some rotating machinery problem at
every other annual meeting (no proprietary information is presented). At
these meetings, the Industrial members make their research and software needs
known. The overall future research direction is thus determined jointly by
the Industrial members and the ROMAC faculty.
Short Courses
ROMAC sponsors periodic short courses on topics of interest to
the member companies. Participation in these short courses is usually limited
to representatives of ROMAC member companies. There is usually no
registration fee for member company attendees. These short courses are
tutorial in nature since
current research topics are discussed at the annual meeting. Short course topics
have included
rotor dynamics,
bearings,
fluids, and the use of
ROMAC computer codes.
Membership Policy
ROMAC
faculty members,
staff, and
graduate students report to the industrial members the results of their research
from ROMAC, federal, and private foundation sponsored research.
Reports,
computer programs, and the
results of experimental research are passed directly to the member companies without the time
consuming publication process. Research of generic interest is also published
in the public domain.
Multiplier Effect
The cost to each individual industrial participant is quite low. The
current group of 25
industrial members provides funding of more than $450,000 per year. Typical
external funding for research related to ROMAC is presently on the order of $600,000 per year.
This cooperative project combines industrial and government funding to
support a very substantial program. Thus, an industrial participant's
investment of $19,000 per year provides access to a wide ranging
million-dollar research program.
