Fan blade-off test is probably the most spectacular test in the engine certification campaign. During the test, a fan blade is deliberately detached to demonstrate that it can be contained by the engine casing (hence preventing any potential damage to the aircraft).

As part of the new Rolls-Royce demonstrator programme (UltraFan®), a full containment fan blade off (FBO) test was scheduled. My project focused on performing necessary mechanical simulations of the engine test rig ahead of the test.

The main goal of the project was to de-risk the full containment test, and generate Whole Engine Modelling (WEM) know-how for the future UltraFan® testing. The task focused on correlating a transient dynamic model against previous fan blade off (FBO) test to verify key loads on the test rig and provide an official risk statement to the Project/Rigs departments ahead of the test.

The work required using sophisticated theoretical and computational approaches to assess structural integrity of the rig. Advanced optimisation techniques were used to explore the design space of the model (during correlation activity) and evaluate its effectiveness in modelling the real FBO events.

Example of a fan blade off test.