"Hydromechanics" Educational and Research Center
The Department of Hydromechanics and Hydraulic Engineering within the Faculty of Shipbuilding at the Admiral S. O. Makarov Maritime Institute was established in December 1970 by Order No. 424-k, pursuant to Decision No. 401 of the USSR Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education dated June 10, 1970.
At that time, her teaching staff included: the department chair, Associate Professor M. B. Slizhevsky; Associate Professors V. O. Stepanov and M. G. Lebid; Senior Lecturers O. M. Maiboroda and V. I. Nikolaev; Assistant Professor Y. M. Proskuchenko, laboratory supervisor O. G. Medvedev, and laboratory assistant V. O. Ovchinnikova.
The list of courses taught by the department included “Hydromechanics,” “Ship Theory and Design,” “Hydrodynamics and Gas Dynamics,” and “Hydraulics.” Two rooms in the old building were allocated to the department: a faculty office and a room for the teaching laboratory.
The department included a research laboratory for the theory of aerodynamic improvement of heat exchange equipment (AUTA), which had previously been part of the Boiler Department and was located in the new building at 3 Lenin Avenue. The laboratory’s long-standing scientific director was Mykola Hryhorovych Lebid, who made a significant contribution to the establishment and development of the Department of Hydromechanics.
From its very inception, the department has focused on developing and improving all aspects of its operations, the most important of which have always been—and continue to be—its facilities and its faculty and laboratory staff.
Over the past 50 years, the department has significantly improved its facilities. This was largely facilitated by the department’s move to the main academic building in the 1980s.
Three teaching laboratories were established: one for hydromechanics and gas dynamics, one for hydraulics, and one for hydropneumatic drives and hydropneumatic automation, all of which were thoroughly equipped with original laboratory setups and test benches. These included, first and foremost, small and tabletop wind tunnels, hydraulic systems, systems for studying transonic flows, hydraulic and pneumatic simulators, and EGDA systems.
Over the course of the department’s 50-year history, the range of academic disciplines has expanded, as has the number of majors in which the Department of Hydromechanics plays an active role. While the department’s faculty initially taught only at two faculties and in six majors, today they teach across all institutes and faculties of the university. New courses have been added to the curriculum, including: Fundamentals of Hydrobiology, Maneuverability and Control of Underwater Vehicles, Hydropneumatic Drives and Hydropneumatic Automation, Encyclopedia of Shipbuilding, and Computational Hydrodynamics.
The department places great emphasis on recruiting and training a highly qualified faculty and laboratory staff. While there were five faculty members and two laboratory assistants when the department was established in 1970, by 1974 the department already had 27 faculty members, laboratory assistants, research associates, and graduate students.
To train a highly qualified faculty, the department makes use of its graduate program, which has been in operation since the very beginning.
The “AUTA” research laboratory—affectionately known as “Swan Lake”—played a major role in postgraduate training; its long-standing director was Mykola Hryhorovych Lebid, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Professor, and Doctor of Technical Sciences. Mykola Hryhorovych was distinguished by his vast erudition and his ability to identify and solve pressing problems in the field of thermal power engineering. As one of the founders of the Department of Hydromechanics, he supervised 12 candidates of sciences, one of whom—V. M. Bograd—later became a Doctor of Sciences and published numerous articles and reports.
Since 2006, the department has been headed by Associate Professor Y. M. Korol, who currently serves as the director of the “Hydromechanics” Educational and Research Center, established pursuant to an order of the rector of the National University of Kyiv dated September 3, 2019. The center’s staff includes Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Val. V. Zaitsev; Associate Professor, Candidate of Technical Sciences V. F. Tymoshenko; Associate Professor, Candidate of Technical Sciences D. V. Zaitsev; Laboratory Head O. Yu. Malinkin; and Senior Laboratory Assistant T. E. Zinovieva.
Faculty
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Facilities and Equipment