Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney have signed a
joint agreement with Virginia Tech for pre-competitive research
focused on the impact of environmental contaminants on aeroengine
operation and testing.
The four-year project will leverage
Virginia Tech’s research and cross-discipline expertise on engine
operation, instrumentation and geosciences, as well as the current
research relationships that both Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce
have with the university.
“At Virginia Tech, we are honored
to be given the opportunity to build on the foundation of our
existing academic alliances by partnering with Pratt & Whitney and
Rolls-Royce on this project,” said Changmin Son, the Rolls-Royce
Commonwealth Professor at Virginia Tech. “The multidisciplinary
group, teamed with Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace and Ocean
Engineering, and Geosciences, will work together to tackle the
impact of the airborne particulate on aircraft engines, which is a
huge challenge for today’s aviation industry.”
This
research relationship continues longstanding collaboration between
Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney on issues that are common across
the aerospace industry. The two companies have partnered on
several government-based research projects, including a study
focused on volcanic ash damage to aircraft engines.
Work has taken place in the US, UK and around the world,
with various groups developing some of the basic understanding
needed before complex modeling can be undertaken.
The
collaboration between Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and Virginia
Tech in this research initiative is designed to add the more
complicated engine testing available at Virginia Tech to further
develop mitigation strategies, and to provide information back to
these more basic research activities from actual engine
operations.
“Rolls-Royce has enjoyed a strong relationship
with Virginia Tech for decades, collaborating on a variety of
research projects to measure and evaluate engine performance under
different conditions,” said Lisa Teague, head of Emerging
Technologies and Innovation at Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks. “This new
joint research project will help further industry understanding of
airborne particles – a key contributor to engine degradation – and
their impact on operability.”
Detrimental effects of
particle ingestion are common concerns in the aerospace industry
and can lead to accelerated engine aging and performance loss.
The short-term
goal for the work is leveraging learning from smaller engine
tests, which will be performed on a Rolls-Royce M250 engine, to
influence large engine test programs by accounting for the
difference in engine architecture and operating conditions.
The
impact of environmental contaminants costs hundreds of millions of
dollars of losses annually for both commercial and military
operations as air travel has expanded around the world. It is a
multifaceted problem that ranges from basic scientific questions
about complex chemistry of the environmental contaminants within
the engine, to fleet operations, maintenance procedures, engine
design and even weather prediction. It spans a wide range of
scientific issues to practical engineering problems which are well
suited to a multi-discipline focused project.
The work done on this project will have a direct
impact on Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney testing methodology and
capabilities.
“Pratt & Whitney sees this as a great opportunity to improve
our basic understanding of an issue that is critically important
to our entire industry,” said Frank Preli, vice president,
Propulsion and Materials Technologies, Pratt & Whitney. “Virginia
Tech has the right expertise and facilities to help us make an
impact as the joint research team will investigate the
fundamentals of particle (sand/dust) properties as the particles
pass through the engine with the goal of improving analysis
methods to better predict those effects.”
