Testing Down to the Last Detail
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1/2010 Testing down to the last detail MTU Aero Engines Holding AG Customers + PartnersTechnology + Science MTU Global Dachauer Straße 665 80995 Munich • Germany Tel. +49 89 1489-0 Fax +49 89 1489-5500 Power for the Jumbo Jet Hardfaced tips for top MTU support for the [email protected] www.mtu.de and the Dreamliner efficiency “flying gas station” Contents Editorial Cover Story Dear Readers: Testing down to the last detail 4 – 7 Finally, yes finally, the bird is on the wing. However, the program highlights something Late last year, the new A400M military trans- else too—something we have witnessed re- Customers + Partners port aircraft successfully completed its long- peatedly in the past. Almost all the major Power for the Jumbo Jet and 8 – 11 awaited, eagerly anticipated maiden flight commercial and military aircraft programs the Dreamliner above the Spanish city of Seville. The relief that have ever been initiated in Europe and A boost for the MRJ 12 – 15 Testing down to the last detail was palpable throughout the industry; delays the United States have been subject to to the project had been creating too much delays, some of them massive. In this respect, Four TP400-D6 engines lift Europe’s new military transport, the A400M, up into turbulence all round. Now, the ongoing flight the A400M is no exception. As things stand the air—now almost an everyday occurrence at Seville airport. Since the maiden Technology + Science test program is demonstrating the superior at present, in pure economic terms, MTU flight in December 2009, flight testing has been in full swing. Hardfaced tips for top efficiency 16 – 19 capabilities of both the aircraft and its does not expect the program to produce a Page 4 Fiber-reinforced materials for 20 – 23 TP400-D6 engine. positive contribution to earnings. But the sig- future engines Power for the Jumbo Jet and nificant investments we have made in re- the Dreamliner This merely confirms what tests on the search and development will serve to main- ground and on the flying test bed had already tain our core technological competences and American Airlines, the world’s second- MTU Global proved: The propulsion system as a whole, systems expertise. Almost all the old aircraft largest carrier, has selected the GEnx-1B MTU support for the 24 – 27 including its control system, meets all speci- programs that were dogged by initial delays for its fleet of Boeing 787s. MTU will “flying gas station” fication requirements—from its enormous went on to prove successful. Perhaps the supply the turbine center frame for this 11,000-shaft-horsepower output and impres- same will prove true for the A400M, in the GE engine starting in early 2012. sive fuel consumption data to its vibration form of follow-up contracts for the export Page 8 Products + Services behavior and thermal efficiency. And the market. Both the aircraft and its engine un- New power for a legendary aircraft 28 – 31 highly complex engine control software is doubtedly merit it. A customer almost from day one 32 – 33 Hardfaced tips for top also operating as it should. efficiency Sincerely yours, The A400M is the only transport aircraft in In the high-pressure compressor, robust Report its class in the Western world. It promises a blades ensure minimum clearances be- Roaring through the desert 34 – 37 unique operational spectrum and permits tween the blade tips and the hard lining at 1,000 mph completely new mission profiles. The same of the casing. MTU Aero Engines has can be said for its engine: Never before have developed a new method of hardfacing the Western nations produced such a power- blade tips to increase their wear resist- In Brief 38– 39 ful turboprop, and never before has such a ance. Masthead 39 complex engine control system been devel- Egon Behle Page 16 oped for a propulsion system. The A400M Chief Executive Officer and its TP400-D6 engine are effectively MTU support for the “flying gas station” pushing the limits of what is currently tech- nologically achievable. I believe we should all The KC-10 Extenders operated by the U.S. Air Force are powered by CF6-50 be proud of the fact that this in its entirety engines, for which MTU Maintenance provides service support. The company is a system has been created in Europe. The partner in the U.S. bidding consortium which won the contract. A400M is tangible proof of the tremendous Page 24 engineering expertise that exists within our companies. 2 3 Testing down to the last detail By Patrick Hoeveler Blue skies stretch out above Seville as four TP400-D6 engines lift Europe’s latest military transport aircraft, the A400M, up into the air. The sight is now almost an everyday occur- rence at the Spanish airport. Since the maiden flight of the new Airbus in December 2009, flight testing has been in full swing. “Thus far we haven’t encountered any major problems with the engine,” reports Dr. Wolfgang Gärtner, Director, Engineering, Military Programs at MTU Aero Engines. Germany’s leading engine manufacturer is a ing those for the second and third prototypes TP400-D6 for the Airbus A400M, more than do without variable geometry, and all the inlet, which is located behind the propeller ports have to operate: In contrast with com- partner in the EPI Europrop International en- of the A400M. In the course of the develop- just one challenge was involved. The TP400- rotors have been designed as weight-saving and influences the air flow. But we managed mercial engines, their military cousins need gine consortium and is responsible, among ment process, the engineers had to come up D6 comes as a three-shaft configuration and blisk components. Quite apart from saving to solve that problem by carrying out an inte- to withstand much higher forces during other things, for the extremely complex soft- with a whole range of technical solutions in is the most powerful turboprop engine in the production costs and reducing the engine grated simulation of the inlet and the com- maneuvers such as narrow curves and steep ware used in the TP400-D6’s control unit. order to meet the very ambitious perform- Western world. “We made every effort to re- weight, these innovations also enhance per- pressor and making appropriate design alter- approaches. This is why, for example, the MTU also supplies the intermediate-pressure ance and weight requirements. duce the engine’s weight,” explains Dr. Jörg formance because the flow losses associat- ations based on the results.” engine casing has to be much more rigid. In compressor, turbine and shaft for the engine Henne, Senior Vice President, Engineering ed with variable vanes and leakages no addition, as take-offs and landings on and is in charge of final assembly. Some 20 Developing a new engine from scratch is and Technology at MTU. As a result, the five- longer occur. As Henne points out: “A further The job wasn’t made any easier by the unsealed runways are par for the course, the engines have already been delivered, includ- always a challenge but, in the case of the stage intermediate-pressure compressor can difficulty was the extremely asymmetrical demanding scenarios in which military trans- engines have to be robust enough to cope 4 Cover Story 5 with the ingress of foreign objects. All these Gärtner explains: “The intermediate-pressure aspects have to be tested down to the last compressor can be directly hit by any foreign detail, which involved a total of more than object, not just by birds. By contrast, turbo- 3,500 hours of trials with 12 engines on dif- fans are better protected: the fan intercepts ferent test rigs. “Except for special tests, such the majority of foreign objects, diverting them as sand ingestion testing, the general test pro- into the bypass stream. Both of the tests we cedure is similar to that for engines destined carried out were successful.” for commercial aircraft,” explains Henne. The control system has a key role to play in This is where MTU was able to benefit from the smooth functioning of the new engine, as its noncontact blade vibration measurement Gärtner outlines: “Its job is a highly complex system, which enables engineers to study the one. The number of interfaces to the aircraft behavior of the compressor blades using laser alone has grown by a factor of ten in com- optics. Put simply, the system focuses on a parison with the control unit used in the point attached to the blade, which is forecast Eurofighter Typhoon engine.” Although MTU to be in a certain position at a certain time. If MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg has commenced testing of the A400M’s TP400-D6 engine in 2005. The was able to draw on the knowledge it had The Airbus A400M during its maiden flight with TP400-D6 engines above Seville in December 2009. the spot appears later than the calculations shop boasts the only production test facility for this engine worldwide. gained with the EJ200, the engineers were predict, the blade has been deformed as a nevertheless entering uncharted waters with And the tests are as diverse as they are com- rated in the updated versions, and the test- result of vibrations. Sophisticated software Another key step in the approval process Although the tests themselves took only sec- the TP400-D6 because certification of EPI’s prehensive. First off, sub-routines are tested ing loop begins again. then analyzes the extent of the deformation were the bird strike tests, which also fell with- onds, months were needed both for prepara- military engine by the civil aviation authority on a computer, with test programs simulat- detected.