The field commander decides that the fleet cannot safely meet mission objectives until the problem is resolved. These results must be delivered concurrent with testing, to enable the mission to proceed under new restricted operating conditions. In-depth diagnostic tests to collect information for finding the root cause of the vibration. These results must be available concurrently with testing.
Validation tests to evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.
The initial test plan is interactively developed for performing vibration analysis in the critical sections of the flight envelope. An available engine is delivered and installed at AEDC the following day for a series of tests. The available engine instrumentation includes 20 new accelerometers and various other sensors remaining from earlier tests of the same engine. Time constraints do not allow the installation of strain gauges on the turbine blades, therefore the test plan requires a structural model of the running parallel with the test for explaining the spectral signatures. Historical data must be available for on-line comparisons.