Largest engine testing at AEDC

Written by PHILIP LORENZ III AEDC PUBLIC AFFAIRS | 25 January 2012

From left, Aerospace Testing Alliance outside machinists Danny
Haddon and Garry Sudberry inspect the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB
engine between simulated altitude performance and operability test
runs in AEDC’s C2 test cell. The engine is the largest power plant ever
tested at AEDC. PHOTO / RICK GOODFRIEND

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. – A test recently conducted in AEDC’s Aeropropulsion
Systems Test Facility C2 test cell on a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB (Extra Wide Body) engine set a
new record at the world’s largest and most advanced flight simulation facilities located in middle
Tennessee. According to Rolls-Royce officials and those conducting
the test, the Trent XWB is not only the largest engine under
development to date by the company, but it is also one of the largest engines tested at
AEDC. Tom Schmidt, ATA project manager on the test, said, “I believe this is the largest commercial
engine that we’ve tested, with a fan diameter of 118 inches.” The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB, a
developmental engine, was at AEDC for simulated altitude performance and operability
testing. Once certified as operational, the massive engine will power the Airbus A350 XWB, a
“family” of long-range, widebody jet airliners. The XWB designation specifically describes the aircraft family’s
wide fuselage and not the engine. Andrew Fist, AEDC Turbine Engine Ground Test Complex
project manager on the test, said, “We’re performing a full suite of performance and operability
testing, and helping Rolls-Royce prepare for certification testing for this engine family.
“AEDC offers an opportunity for the commercial aviation industry to evaluate their engines in an environment
that’s very different from flight test. You can put more instrumentation on an engine when you’re doing a simulated altitude
test. You can vary the conditions with more control than when you do a flight test. “One of the other challenges
in flight testing is that it’s very difficult to measure in-flight thrust, whereas we have a methodology and facilities that
provide that high accuracy for the customer.” Fist said that commercial aviation customers are keenly focused on thrust and specific
fuel consumption data, which is “the heart of performance testing, and is critical in this extremely competitive industry.”
He said the primary focus of operability testing on the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine is to evaluate the limits of safe operation
of the engine under a variety of stressing flight and engine conditions. Fist acknowledged that the ongoing project has been challenging,
particularly the operational phase of testing. “We’ve excelled at being dynamic with changing conditions in the plant or the engine,”