Recently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) officially approved the Key International (Regional) Joint Research Project “Hydraulic–Structure Multi-Field Coupling Mechanisms and Resilience Enhancement of Wide-Variability Axial-Flow Pump Stations”, led by Professor Zhang Desheng from Jiangsu University’s Fluid Center. The project will be conducted in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain) and Hohai University (China).

Pump stations are widely used in major national projects such as farmland irrigation and drainage and long-distance water diversion. In recent years, the global surge in extreme flooding events has led to significant water level fluctuations in pump station forebays and increasingly complex operating conditions. As a result, pump units face challenges such as performance degradation and abnormal vibrations in pump rooms. This project will focus on three research directions: multiphase flow induced by forebay intake vortices, hydraulic-structure multi-field coupling mechanisms, and resilience enhancement in pump station operation. By leveraging international collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches, it aims to address the instability of hydraulics and structures in axial-flow pump stations operating under extreme conditions, thereby improving resilience across the full operating range of pump stations in China’s national water network and ensuring the safe, stable, efficient, and intelligent operation of large-scale axial-flow pump stations under demanding scenarios.

Since the establishment of the NSFC Department of International Cooperation in 2023, emphasis has been placed on funding globally oriented scientific research. Key International (Regional) Joint Research Projects primarily support scientists to collaborate with overseas partners in priority areas for NSFC funding and in research domains urgently needed for China’s development.

Prof. Zhang has long been dedicated to hydraulic machinery design theories and hydrodynamics research. His team has maintained extensive collaborations with renowned international institutions, including the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain), Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), and École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers (France), as well as joint doctoral training programs. In recent years, the team’s doctoral students have been awarded eight China Scholarship Council funding projects, resulting in the joint training of five PhD candidates and three postdoctoral researchers. The approval of this project further strengthens Jiangsu University’s international academic influence in the field of irrigation and drainage equipment and contributes to the university’s efforts toward “Double First-Class” development.