AEDC’s F100 engine test underway to bring latest technology to sustain fighter

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  AEDC engineers are conducting altitude testing in test cell J-1 on an F100 engine that powers the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon as part of a Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) project.

"The main objective is to test the redesigned third stator," said Lt. Drew Miller, the Air Force project manager on this test. "More reliable and durable parts are what we're hoping for [with this test]."

Compressor stators are non-rotating groups of airfoils, mounted from the compressor outer case, intended to optimize the angle at which airflow enters an adjacent downstream group of rotating airfoils (rotor). Stator design influences aeromechanical, stability and efficiency characteristics of the compressor which, in turn, influence engine thrust, fuel efficiency and life.

Gary Meuer, the ATA project manager on the test, said, "It's a component improvement program (CIP) to evaluate new parts that go into the engine."

For the first phase of the test, the engine was instrumented with strain gauges in the compressor to allow the customer and sponsor to get important deflection and stress data for use in assessing the aeromechanical performance of the third stator.

"They wanted to look at how the stresses are imposed on the blades when you do performance calibrations [and] transient maneuvers," Meuer said. "Once that's done then we take out the instrumented third stator and put another clean third stator back in the engine that has no instrumentation, it's clean but it's in that same configuration."

Another task of this program is to obtain "engine modeling data."

Meuer said, "They're filling in databases for the math models that predict engine behavior."

The test team will measure data on engine parameters at multiple conditions and throttle positions to correlate the operability and performance computer models to the measured data from the test article which has all the features of updates and upgrades over the years that were incrementally added to the engine configuration.

"The purpose of doing that is to put more fidelity into their model, allow them to tweak it better," Meuer said. "In addition to the CIP tasks, the customer has added hardware that will improve durability on the compressors first blade and second vane."

These tests support technology integration tasks that will bring fifth generation fighter engine technology to the F100-PW229 model.

According to the sponsors, the testing will result in increased part durability while maintaining or decreasing the amount of air required to be diverted from the main flow-path of the engine for cooling.

"These improvements will allow these engines to continue their excellent safety record while increasing future capabilities," Meuer said.