Testing of a gas turbine engine for aircraft propulsion applications may be conducted in the actual aircraft or in a ground-test environment. Ground test facilities simulate flight conditions by providing airflow at pressures and temperatures experienced during flight. Flight-testing of the full aircraft system provides the best means of obtaining the exact environment that the propulsion system must operate in but must deal with limitations in the amount and type of instrumentation that can be put on-board the aircraft. Due to this limitation, engine performance may not be fully characterized. On the other hand, ground-test simulation provides the ability to enhance the instrumentation set such that engine performance can be fully quantified. However, the current ground-test methodology only simulates the flight environment thus placing limitations on obtaining system performance in the real environment. Generally, a combination of ground and flight tests is necessary to quantify the propulsion system performance over the entire envelop of aircraft operation. To alleviate some of the dependence on flight-testing to obtain engine performance during maneuvers or transients that are not currently done during ground testing, a planned enhancement to ground-test facilities was investigated and reported in this paper that will allow certain categories of flight maneuvers to be conducted. Ground-test facility performance is simulated via a numerical model that duplicates the current facility capabilities and with proper modifications represents planned improvements that allow certain aircraft maneuvers. The vision presented in this paper includes using an aircraft simulator that uses pilot inputs to maneuver the aircraft engine. The aircraft simulator then drives the facility to provide the correct engine environmental conditions represented by the flight maneuver.
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January 2005
Technical Papers
A Flight Simulation Vision for Aeropropulsion Altitude Ground Test Facilities
Milt Davis,
Milt Davis
Aerospace Testing Alliance, ATA, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, TN 37389-9013
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Peter Montgomery
Peter Montgomery
Aerospace Testing Alliance, ATA, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, TN 37389-9013
Search for other works by this author on:
Milt Davis
Aerospace Testing Alliance, ATA, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, TN 37389-9013
Peter Montgomery
Aerospace Testing Alliance, ATA, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, TN 37389-9013
Contributed by the International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING FOR GAS TURBINES AND POWER. Paper presented at the International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exhibition, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 3–6, 2002; Paper No. 2002-GT-30003. Manuscript received by IGTI, December 2001, final revision, March 2002. Associate Editor: E. Benvenuti.
J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. Jan 2005, 127(1): 8-17 (10 pages)
Published Online: February 9, 2005
Article history
Received:
December 1, 2001
Revised:
March 1, 2002
Online:
February 9, 2005
Citation
Davis , M., and Montgomery, P. (February 9, 2005). "A Flight Simulation Vision for Aeropropulsion Altitude Ground Test Facilities ." ASME. J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power. January 2005; 127(1): 8–17. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1806452
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