Blade-Off Test

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01) 01/03/2015 at 17:01 • Filed to: None

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For reasons I can't reveal, I know a bit about jet engines. The acid test for these engines (in this case a Rolls Royce model) is the blade-off test. One of the fan blades is blown off by a bit of explosive with the engine at full power - the engine passes if the fan case contains the bits inside, which could pierce the fuselage and cause ... problems. I'd forgotten how violent this is:

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:07

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Kapow!! Let me give you something a tad more sedate.. John Deere Model D.

PS9 > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:14

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"For reasons I can't reveal,"

...

YOU WORK FOR ILLUMINATI

Steve in Manhattan > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 01/03/2015 at 17:18

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Those are hard to kill.

whoarder is tellurium > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:18

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Crazy amount of energy. Delta MD-88 Flight 1288 pictured with a hoooorrible un-contained event. The aircraft is still in service apparently though...

ttyymmnn > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:18

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Last summer, I took a tour of the Delta Tech Ops facility in Atlanta, where Oppo's own f86sabre works. This is the control room where they test the engines after servicing them. Through the window on the right is an engine they are running up, and the room itself is like a giant bunker, with super-thick concrete walls and huge steel doors, to contain all the bits should an incident like the one you show occur.

The engines are suspended from the ceiling on overhead rails, then they can move them into the test bunker.

And those blades are BIG. And very expensive. This is a B767 engine awaiting testing.

Steve in Manhattan > PS9 01/03/2015 at 17:19

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Not quite ...

f86sabre > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:24

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operator,maintainer or manufacturer?

Steve in Manhattan > f86sabre 01/03/2015 at 17:27

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None of the above. Let's just say I signed something ....

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:29

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Ya sure....

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:39

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Others have conducted similar tests with varying results

Sam > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 17:54

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Ooh, my dad did something similar. Except it was with Raytheon and involved ICBM guidance systems. That's about all he can say.

Steve in Manhattan > Sam 01/03/2015 at 18:04

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My dad worked for the Department of the Army - I still don't know half the stuff he did, and he died in '86.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Steve in Manhattan 01/03/2015 at 18:39

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I love these. I kne someone that worked for GE and had a couple of these on VHS (as I said they were old) and they were awesome to see.

Steve in Manhattan > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/03/2015 at 18:49

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They also have chicken guns so they can do bird-strike tests. I am glad they test these engines like crazy, as I am a slightly nervous flyer.

roflcopter > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 01/03/2015 at 19:16

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Well it's pretty easy to maintain at least 4psi of compression on a cylinder and a half.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > roflcopter 01/03/2015 at 19:21

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No idea of the compression rate on the old John Deeres.. probably rather low tho' engines were like 9 litres and two cylinders...

roflcopter > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 01/03/2015 at 19:23

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It's amazing how far engines have come... although that external flywheels still scares the shit out of me.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > roflcopter 01/03/2015 at 19:25

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Just keep any vital parts away and you'll be fine. But yeah, it IS amazing, and quite awesome as well.

PS9 > whoarder is tellurium 01/04/2015 at 06:43

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Guessing whoever was sitting at that cracked window is deader than dead now.

VonBelmont > Sam 01/18/2015 at 06:25

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My grandfather, on my mom's side, owned a defense-contractor-type company in the '80s-'00s that did stuff with the "Star Wars" project. I honestly never even knew he owned it until it came up when he died. I just thought he was an investor or something.