Construction and operation of the VPI & SU high-speed turbomachinery test facility

Abstract

Work related to the continued development of the VPI&SU highspeed turbomachinery test facility is reported. Fuel, lubrication and hydraulic systems have been designed to meet the requirements of the drive engine (a free power turbine gas turbine engine) and the test compressor. An overspeed system for monitoring and control of the engine's free power turbine speed has been designed and successfully tested and operating procedures for the test cell systems were established. A vibration analysis was conducted to check for torsional resonances within the operating ranges of several drive train configurations. Also, a noise control system has been proposed to deal with noise levels generated during testing.