Chapter 1060: Trent 900, something big happened

Bodie rushed all the way and finally arrived at the No. 58 test bench in Derbyshire the next afternoon.

The fourth and final ground verification aircraft of the Trent 900 is undergoing the final simulation tests here.

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

Unit 04 was fixed on the hanger of the aerial platform as usual, with the huge titanium alloy fan facing the door, rotating at an extremely slow speed.

It seemed like a test had just finished and hadn't stopped completely yet.

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

For a moment, Bodie even wondered if he had been too drunk and worried too much the night before.

Maybe...it's just a normal technical meeting?

He still held on to some hope in his heart.

However, after walking a few steps to the side, the scene in front of him shocked Bodi so much that he stopped in his tracks instantly.

Compared to the front that looks intact, the back half of Unit 04 is almost completely destroyed.

The entire engine nacelle was torn apart by the huge external force, and the space between the fan and the intermediate pressure compressor was full of carbides left over from high-temperature combustion, making it almost impossible to distinguish the structure.

The combustion chamber and turbine parts seem to be intact, but a closer look will reveal that a huge gap has been torn in the upper part of the casing corresponding to the intermediate-pressure turbine and low-pressure turbine structures, and the internal structure is probably in 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 and causing secondary damage.

Otherwise, the problem may become even more out of control...

"Timmy…we are in big trouble."

R&D director Panos Watson was standing not far from the test bench wearing a helmet, his face looking terribly gloomy.

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

"Yesterday afternoon, Unit 04 was undergoing a -50°C low-temperature operation test. Just as the entire process was about to end, the engine oil temperature sensor suddenly sounded an alarm."

"The staff immediately prepared to stop the engine according to 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, the intermediate pressure and low pressure turbine blades broke, and penetrated the casing and engine nacelle under the action of extremely high centrifugal force."

"One of the pieces happened to hit the command transmission device of the test bench, causing the subsequent control and sensor signals to completely fail... Fortunately, the valve of the fuel line has an emergency cut-off design, which automatically cuts off the fuel supply after losing the control signal, so the entire engine was not completely burned and damaged..."

"..."

Although Bodi had made all kinds of mental preparations on the way back, the situation before him was still much more serious than he had imagined.

Especially when Wilson finished speaking, Bodie was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground.

In order to prevent the accident from getting completely out of control, the test workshop is equipped with a high-multiplicity foam fire extinguishing system similar to that of many hangars.

If the fire expands to the point where this equipment is activated, many traces of the accident can never be restored.

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

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

Even if we find out...

Solving the problem may also take a lot of time.

For a moment, the huge testing workshop was silent.

"So... the problem is with the intermediate-pressure turbine and the low-pressure turbine?"

Bodie took the report from Wilson, but because the data in the second half was missing, it was difficult to quickly analyze any particularly valuable information from it.

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

Of course there is some stereotype involved, but to say it is pure prejudice...

Not really—

The application of titanium alloy in the hot end of aircraft engines is the first time. Even the low-pressure turbine with the lowest operating temperature has a much harsher environment than the fan and casing that use a large amount of titanium alloy.

In this case, the turbine part also applies new thermal barrier coating technology and air film cooling technology.

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

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

When all kinds of risks are concentrated together, it is indeed the place where problems are most likely to occur.

However, after Wilson pondered for a moment, he shook his head:

"Hard to say."

"It was indeed the broken and flying medium and low pressure turbine blades that ultimately caused the huge damage to the engine, but if we dig deeper into the source of the accident... we can't draw a conclusion yet."

"Our test engineers have found more than 4000 pieces of debris around the test bench, of which nearly 100 are embedded in the roof of the test center. We have not yet collected all of them. I am afraid that only after the analysis of the engine wreckage and these fragments is completed can we truly give the cause of the accident."

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

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

"call--"

He let out a long breath and rubbed his eyes which were a little swollen due to fatigue and stress:

"Is there no more efficient way?"

Accidents during the testing process are not air crashes, and the procedures are generally not very strict. As long as the problem can be found, it will be fine.

But correspondingly, there will be far fewer people responsible for the investigation.

"I can't guarantee that."

Wilson shrugged.

"If you're lucky, the first part you pick up might be the problem, but if you're unlucky... even if you look at everything, you may not be able to come to 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 sent the batch of samples a few months ago, they specifically mentioned that the intermediate and low-pressure turbines lacked a locking structure, which could easily cause the turbine rotor to over-rotate after the turbine shaft broke... If we add this design to the turbine shaft, can we avoid such accidents?"

The one who spoke was Leah Lapworth.

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

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

So, don't care about the other person's face like others do.

As soon as the words fell, several inhalations were heard at the scene.

Then, almost everyone turned their eyes to Supervisor Watson.

The latter also looked embarrassed.

At that time, it was he who made the decision without hesitation and rejected the opinions put forward by the Chinese.

They also vowed that our Trent 900 is of advanced design and excellent manufacturing, and there will be no problem of turbine shaft breakage.

result……

The engine next to it, which was almost reduced to a wreck, was a silent slap in the face.

"Cough-cough-"

Bodi realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere and quickly tried to smooth things over:

"Dr. Lapworth's statement is not quite appropriate..."

"The function of the anti-overspeed design is to prevent further damage after an accident occurs. The premise for it to work is that the turbine shaft breaks... Even if the Trent 900 is really installed, it cannot prevent the accident itself."

"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 root cause of the safety hazard..."

In fact, everyone knew that there was some far-fetched logic in Bodi's words.

After all, if the turbine blades had not flown out and pierced the casing and nacelle, the entire engine would definitely remain largely intact, and there would be no possibility of thousands of fragments as they are today, and it would be even less likely that the sensor signal would be cut off midway.

Accident investigations will obviously become much easier.

Of course, now that things have come to this, it is too late to say these things after the fact.

The anti-overrun design will definitely be added to the Trent 900 in the future, but the premise of all this is that the entire project can continue to operate...

Therefore, Lapworth just curled his lips and did not pursue the matter further.

"one way or another……"

Taking this opportunity, Watson quickly changed the subject:

"Contact China first, and then order a batch of low-pressure turbine blade samples. We may need to conduct an accident reconstruction..."