The Military-industrial Scientific Research System of the Academic Master Chapter 1060

Chapter 1060: Trent 900, something big happened

Pody hurriedly hurriedly and slowly arrived at the No. 58 test bench in Derbyshire on the afternoon of the next day.

The fourth and final ground demonstrator of the Trent 900 is undergoing the last few simulation tests here.

When he first walked into the testing center, he didn't even notice anything unusual at first glance.

Unit No. 04 is fixed on the hanger of the high-altitude platform as usual. The huge titanium alloy fan faces the door and is rotating at an extremely slow speed.

It seems that he has just finished a test and has not completely stopped.

If he hadn't found that almost all the leaders of the technical team were around the test bench, Bodi would have even thought that this was an ordinary afternoon in the test center.

For a moment, Bodie even wondered if he was worrying too much because he was drunk last night.

Perhaps... maybe it's just a normal technical meeting?

He still held some luck in his heart.

However, after walking a few steps to the side, the scene in front of him shocked Bodi and stopped him instantly -

Compared to the front which looked intact, the rear part of Unit 04 was almost completely destroyed.

The entire engine pod was torn apart by huge external forces. The space between the fan and the medium-pressure compressor was filled with carbides left after high-temperature combustion, and the structure was almost indistinguishable.

The combustion chamber and turbine parts seem to be complete, but if you look closely, you will find that there is a huge gap in the upper part of the casing corresponding to the medium-pressure turbine and low-pressure turbine structures. The internal structure is probably a mess...

Not only the engine itself, but also the test bench suffered huge damage.

Fortunately, the hanger structure was strong enough to prevent the engine from falling directly to the ground from a height of nearly ten meters, causing secondary damage.

Otherwise, the problem may become even more unmanageable...

“Timmy…we're in big trouble.”

Panos Watson, the R&D director, was standing not far from the test bench wearing a safety helmet, with a terrifyingly gloomy face.

At the same time, test engineer Georgia Wilson also came to Bodie with a record sheet and began to report the situation in a heavy tone:

“Yesterday afternoon, Unit 04 was undergoing a low-temperature working test of -50°C. Just when the whole process was about to end, the engine oil temperature sensor suddenly alarmed.”

"The staff immediately prepared to perform shutdown operations in accordance with the operating regulations, but the oil temperature and engine speed were not controlled as expected, but continued to rise... Less than two seconds later, the turbine part exploded, and the medium-pressure and low-pressure turbine blades It broke and penetrated the casing and engine nacelle under the action of extremely high centrifugal force.”

"One of the pieces hit the command transmission equipment of the test bench by coincidence, causing the subsequent control and sensor signals to completely fail... Fortunately, the valve in the fuel pipeline has an emergency cut-off design, which automatically cuts off the fuel supply after losing the control signal. It did not cause the entire engine to be completely burned and damaged..."

Although Bodi had made various psychological preparations on the way back, the situation before him was still much more serious than he imagined.

Especially when Wilson said the last part, Bodie was so frightened that he almost lost his balance and fell to the ground——

In order to prevent the accident from getting completely out of control, the test workshop installed a high-expansion foam fire extinguishing system similar to many hangars.

If the fire expands enough to activate this set of equipment, many traces of the accident will never be restored.

Of course, the current situation is only slightly better than the worst.

If the problem cannot be identified in a short time, the development schedule of the Trent 900 may have to be postponed indefinitely.

And even if we find out...

It may also take a lot of time to solve the problem.

For a time, there was silence in the huge testing workshop.

“So…the problem is with the intermediate pressure turbine and the low pressure turbine?”

Pody took over the report from Wilson, but because of the loss of data in the second half, it was difficult to quickly analyze any particularly valuable information from it.

However, he immediately suspected the low-pressure turbine part produced by Huaxia OEM.

Of course there is some kind of stereotype at play here, but to say it is completely prejudice...

Not really—

The application of titanium alloys in the hot end of aeroengines is the first time. Even the low-pressure turbine with the lowest operating temperature has a much harsher environment than fans and casings where titanium alloys are widely used.

In this case, new thermal barrier coating technology and film cooling technology are also applied to the turbine part.

In fact, when it was decided to hand over the production of high-pressure and low-pressure turbines to China a year ago, someone in the technical team suggested that for the sake of safety, the base material of the low-pressure turbine should also be changed to a traditional nickel-based alloy.

But in the end, after voting, the titanium alloy plan was retained with a slight advantage.

The concentration of various risks together is indeed the place where problems are most likely to occur.

However, after Wilson thought for a moment, he still shook his head: "It's hard to say."

“What ultimately caused huge damage to the engine was indeed the mid- and low-pressure turbine blades that shattered and flew out, but if we delve into the source of the accident... we still can't draw a conclusion.”

"Our test engineers have found more than 4,000 pieces of debris around the test bench, nearly 100 of which are embedded in the roof of the test center. They have not been collected yet. I am afraid we will have to wait until the engine debris and the analysis of these debris Only when it is over can the true cause of the accident be given.”

Bodi subconsciously raised his head and noticed that there were several ladders set up around the test platform.

Several staff are collecting the debris left by the accident at a height of more than ten meters...

He took a long breath and rubbed his eyes that were swollen from fatigue and stress:

“Isn't there a more efficient way?”

The accident during the test is not an air crash, and the procedures are generally not very strict, as long as the problem can be found.

But correspondingly, the number of manpower responsible for investigation will be much smaller.

“I can't guarantee that.”

Wilson shrugged:

"If you're lucky, the first part you pick up may be the problem, but if you're not lucky...even if you read them all, you may not be able to draw an intuitive conclusion."

The atmosphere was once again as quiet as death.

Until a female voice came from somewhere:

"I suddenly remembered that when the Chinese people sent those samples over a few months ago, they specifically mentioned that the medium-pressure and low-pressure turbines lacked locking structures. After the turbine shaft breaks, it will easily cause the turbine rotor to over-rotate... If we are in Can such an accident be avoided by adding this design to the turbine shaft?”

The speaker was Lea Lapworth.

As the director of computing science, although she was also involved in the design of the Trent 900, she was not a member of the R&D team.

Even in terms of level, she is on the same level as Panos Watson.

So, and care about the other person's face like other people.

As soon as he finished speaking, several sounds of inhalation came to mind one after another.

Immediately afterwards, almost everyone turned their attention to Director Watson.

The latter also looked embarrassed.

At that time, it was he who made the decision without thinking and vetoed the opinions put forward by the Chinese people.

And we also vowed that our Trent 900 is advanced in design and well-made, and there will be no problem of turbine shaft breakage.

result…

The almost-wrecked engine next to it was a silent slap in the face.

“Ahem—”

Realizing that something was wrong with the atmosphere, Bodi quickly smoothed things over:

“Dr. Lapworth's statement is not appropriate either…”

“The function of the anti-overrotation design is to prevent further losses after an accident occurs. The prerequisite for it to work is that the turbine shaft is broken... Even if the Trent 900 is installed, the accident itself cannot be avoided.”

“As Dr. Wilson just said, the starting point of the accident may not be the turbine part, so in the final analysis, we still have to find the source of the safety hazard..."

Actually, everyone knows that Bodie's words are a bit arrogant.

After all, if the turbine blades did not fly out and penetrate the casing and nacelle, then the entire engine would have remained largely intact, and there would be no possibility of thousands of fragments, and the sensor signal would be even less likely to be cut off midway.

Accident investigation will obviously become much easier.

Of course, at this point, it is already too late to say these things in hindsight.

Anti-overrotation design will definitely be added to the Trent 900 in the future, but the premise is that the entire project can continue to operate...

So, Lapworth just curled his lips and did not continue to delve deeper.

"one way or another…"

Taking this opportunity, Watson quickly changed the topic:

“Contact China first, and then order a batch of samples of low-pressure turbine blades. We may need to perform an accident restoration...”

(End of this chapter)

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