Chapter 1060 Trent 900, Something Big Happened

Bodie hurriedly hurriedly hurriedly and finally arrived at the No. 58 test track in Derbyshire the next afternoon.

The fourth and final ground demonstrator of the Trent 900 is undergoing the last few simulation tests here.

And when he first walked into the testing center, he didn't even notice anything unusual at first glance.

Unit No. 04 is fixed on the hanger of the high-altitude platform as usual. The huge titanium alloy fan faces the door and is rotating at an extremely slow speed.

It seems that he has just finished a test and has not completely stopped.

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

For a moment, Bodie even wondered if he had worried too much because he was drunk last night.

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

He still held some luck in his heart.

However, after continuing to walk a few steps to the side, the scene in front of him shocked Bodi and stopped him instantly——

Compared to the front which looked intact, the rear part of Unit 04 was almost completely destroyed.

The entire engine pod was torn apart by huge external forces. The space between the fan and the medium-pressure compressor was filled with carbides left after high-temperature combustion, and the structure was almost indistinguishable.

The combustion chamber and turbine parts seem to be complete, but if you look closely, you will find that there is a huge gap in the upper part of the casing corresponding to the medium-pressure turbine and low-pressure turbine structures. The internal structure is probably 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, causing secondary damage.

Otherwise, the problem may become even more unmanageable...

"Timmy...we're in big trouble."

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

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

"Yesterday afternoon, Unit 04 was undergoing a low-temperature working test of -50°C. Just when the whole process was about to end, the engine oil temperature sensor suddenly alarmed."

"The staff immediately prepared to perform shutdown operations in accordance with 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, and the medium-pressure and low-pressure turbines The blades broke and penetrated the casing and engine nacelle under the action of extremely high centrifugal force.”

"One of the pieces hit the command transmission equipment of the test bench by coincidence, causing the subsequent control and sensor signals to completely fail... Fortunately, the valve in the fuel pipeline has an emergency cut-off design, which automatically cuts off the fuel supply after losing the control signal. This It didn’t cause the entire engine to be completely burned and damaged..."

"..."

Although Bodi had made various psychological preparations on the way back, the situation in front of him was still much more serious than he imagined.

Especially when Wilson said the last part, Bodie was so frightened that he almost lost his balance and fell to the ground——

In order to prevent the accident from getting completely out of control, the test workshop installed a high-expansion foam fire extinguishing system similar to many hangars.

If the fire expands enough to activate this device, many traces of the accident will never be restored.

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

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

And even if it is found out...

Solving the problem may also take a lot of time.

For a moment, there was silence in the huge testing workshop.

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

Bodi took over the report from Wilson, but because of the loss of data in the second half, it was difficult to quickly analyze any particularly valuable information from it.

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

Of course there is some kind of stereotype at play here, but to say it is completely prejudice...

Not really—

The application of titanium alloy in the hot end of an aerospace engine is the first time. Even the low-pressure turbine with the lowest operating temperature has a much harsher environment than the fan and casing where titanium alloy is widely used.

In this case, new thermal barrier coating technology and film cooling technology are also applied to the turbine part.

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

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

All kinds of risks are concentrated together, which is indeed the place where the probability of problems is greatest.

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

"It's hard to say."

"What ultimately caused huge damage to the engine was indeed the medium and low-pressure turbine blades that flew out after being shattered. However, if we delve deeper into the source of the accident... there is no way to draw a conclusion yet."

"Our test engineers have found more than 4,000 pieces of debris around the test bench, of which nearly 100 are embedded in the roof of the test center. They have not been collected yet. I am afraid that only after the analysis of the engine wreckage and these fragments is completed can the real cause of the accident be given."

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

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

"Huh--"

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

"Is there no more efficient way?"

The accident during the test is not an air crash, and the procedures are generally not very strict. As long as the problem can be found, it will be fine.

But accordingly, the number of people responsible for the investigation will be much less.

"I can't guarantee this."

Wilson shrugged:

"If you are lucky, it is possible that the first part you pick up is the problem, but if you are unlucky...even if you look at them all, you may not be able to get a direct conclusion."

The atmosphere was once again as quiet as death.

Until a female voice came from a corner:

"I suddenly remembered that a few months ago, when the Chinese sent the batch of samples, they specifically mentioned that the medium-pressure and low-pressure turbines lacked locking structures, 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 speaker was Leah Lapworth.

As the head of computing science, although she also participated in the design of the Trent 900, she was not considered a member of the R&D team.

In fact, if we really talk about rank, she and Panos Watson are on the same level.

So, she doesn't care about each other's face like others.

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

Immediately afterwards, almost everyone looked at the director Watson.

And the latter also looked embarrassed.

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

And he vowed that our Trent 900 is of advanced design and excellent manufacturing, and there will be no problem of turbine shaft breaking.

As a result...

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

"Ahem——"

Realizing that the atmosphere was a bit wrong, Bodie 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 losses after the accident, and the premise for it to work is the turbine shaft breaking... Even if the Trent 900 is really installed, it cannot prevent the accident itself."

"As Dr. Wilson said just now, 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 knows that Bodie's words are a bit specious.

After all, if the turbine blades had not flown out and penetrated the casing and nacelle, the entire engine would definitely remain largely intact, and there would be no thousands of fragments now, and the sensor signal would be even less likely to be cut off in the middle.

The accident investigation will obviously become much easier.

Of course, it's too late to say these things now.

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

So, Lapworth just curled his lips and didn't go into it further.

"Anyway..."

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..."