Catastrophic Jet Engine Failure In A Test Cell.

[Jimih1180]

I work at the test cell in Kadena now---this is wild. We don't use this type of engine here anymore, I would crap my pants if this happened when I was running... There are pictures of the piece of the fan disc that got lodged in the run bay wall.

[ForTheFS]

is it an f-15's engine?

[caseygtr]

@ForTheFS I think it is, the nozzle sure looks like the one on it's engines. which would be a F100 engine. There's also a F100-229, it has thrust a 2D thrust vectoring nozzle. The F100-229 goes to the F-15 MTD. There is also a F100-PW-229 with 3D thrust vectoring which goes to NASAs F-15 Active.

[Remco1901]

that's wat you call catastrohpic

[atvracer111]

I know the crew that was running this engine when it happened...the turbine failed and the fire suppession system failed to activate also and this was actually one of the first engines run in the new hush house at kadena..the engine thru blades all over sticking them in the walls and ceiling of the hush house and the good thing is no one was hurt.

[chuppa1chups]

At 0:46 you can see the other half of the stator resting underneath the intake and a disk bouncing backward through the test chamber about 4 or so times

[proanti1]

fod?

[moviesunrated]

What happened to the bit at the end, it just randomly closed, why?

[Lemurai]

Air force hush house! Maybe a 3 level worked on it!!! 8D

[shoveldog81]

I worked for a company in No. Hollywood , CA who overhauled engines, and we had a JT9 break free from the stand during a test! Havoc!

[6stringplaya77]

well...that's why the call it a test chamber..

[jozer421]

Ha I remember this video. It happen at Kadena AB, Okinawa Japan. The enigne is a F100-PW-100. What happen was the 3rd Stage Fan Disk came loose. At that time we had a borescope inspection to look for cracks in the lugs and make sure the weights were still there aswell. The failure happen after the idle leak checks. On the acceleration above idle is when the engine finally failed. The big crittical part that fails in that area were cracks in the 3rd stage lugs, which is the blade root.

[lepape2]

One of my teacher told me that they sometimes deliberately snap/weaken the shaft holding the turbine and compressor together. When it does break, the disks would spin out of the engine at max rev and keep spining in the test chamber for a couple of minutes. No wonder when these can spin from 20,000 rpm to 80,000rpm (depending on the size of the engine)

But when a failure happens, every security measures are set in advance to keep control of the situation.

[racermike3]

yes... looks like it fod'd like a compressor section, n1 or n2 blade came off... the variable exhaust nozzle looks sweet with no covers on it..

[diverguy2583]

looks like it could have been shaft bearing failure.

[alexborrero]

In response to edalessandro60, do you remeMber if it was the 3rd stage on the HPC or the LPT. What happened to the disk?

[benjit6]

damn!! thats a really terrible thing to happen in a test cell..i have to agree on slickdrake comment about GE taking its engine developemnt and testing seriously since i'am attached to a GE test cell in Malaysia....

[mra2z]

That would just ruin your day!

[jrod94j]

in response to the guy about 3 months ago...I work at GE's Test Operation in Southern Ohio..and i work mainly on development/compliance engines...GE does takes its engine development and the testing of development engines very seriously.

[slickdrake]

there could be a number of things wrong, such as force overpowering the side of the engine, blades can be off, ignition failing, wrong pipe for fuel = in most cases = the way these engines are set up is to with hold at least a slight amount of extreme heat, with cold air flow from head going @ the tail, so you must be care full with variables in between them as such, but in all they really should watch what they are or doing because they step through a wood door, not heavy steel door.

[racer42O]

gawd, almost immediately after the nozzle tightened up.... its like it was so soft the pressure change was enough to cause contact... im prolly wrong though..im not an engineer...lol

[cubedtothex]

For some reason I found this REALLY funny! But I am thankful that no one got hurt.

[weeruz]

Same here

[jkobeh]

...how far away from the turbine was the camera?

[skizzar100]

about like 1 or 3 feet

[Fitzcard]

Yowzers, seen alot of em blow.  But never like that.

[miniplus]

The explosion was about 17 seconds after the guy closed the door.

Lesson: Never get too confident with this sort of thing.

[terry1919]

I would rather Pratt & Whittney and GE et al go ahead and spend their millions to test these engines that have some hapless pilot get killed because some nerdy BEAN COUNTER decided that testing engines "wasted too much money"....

carry on Gentlemen :-)

[skatetolive101]

blade off? only thing i could think that would make it explode like that

[liOVERLOADil]

This is a minor failure?!

[ATFSCrash]

LiOVERLOADil: A minor failure caused a major mishap because of a domino effect. A minor failure of one part led to the domino effect and the end result was a catastrophic destruction of virtually all of the parts.

[1ExTERMINATE1]

god..thank god they tested that engine, it would be bloody aweful if they never and went straight on to a new airbus A380..

[leandro89]

this engine is too old for the A380..

[hotfuzz459]

thats why they cant have squatters living on the airport tarmac lol

[edalessandro60]

This happened at the Test Cell on Kadena AB in Okinawa. The cause was a 3rd stage disk failure. I know the guy that was running it...and I worked there.

[ieatsuka]

good to hear from someone who knows what they are talking about

[MarcinP2]

By current regulations you can only be inside the cell if the engine is running at idle.

So I suspect the guy leaves and they add power and then it explodes.

I doubt the pressere at engine oulet exceeded one at inlet in this case - the nozzle is allmost completely closed.

[sngldad]

go at throttle up

[933922]

is it suposed to do that?

[WnBKillaH]

Probably not?

[pf126p]

LOL

[timente3]

its like the test is 4 waiting 4 it to blow

[werf4]

It just went a bit wrong, you know like a bit bang...... broken, tears shed etc

[awfargit]

Hey, have you seen my line wrench? What?

SSSSHHHBOOOOM!!!! , never mind..

[ouirdoe]

can someone explain the variable sized nozzle, why does it need to shrink or expand like that?

[MEGA195]

Because it needs to regulate the air flow between subsonic and supersonic, its complicated but it has to do with bernoully´s priciple and air compresabillity

[MEGA195]

because it needs to regulate the air flow between subsonic and supersonic it has to do with bernoulli´s theory and air compressibility

[liamemac]

to increase and decrease the power by focusing the air flow i think

[darksoul844]

because the wider it is the power is more spread out but the smaller it is power is more concentred soo more power higher speeds thats basicly controls speed / power..

[Kitling89]

Nozzles mounted behind the afterburner are used to regulate pressure behind the turbines, allowing the engine to maintain the same mass flow when afterburners are lit. Not to adjust thrust.

[operationcwaI789789]

The whole point of having an afterburner is to increase mass flow out of the nozzle to increase the thrust. The variable nozzle is used such that the engine outlet pressure is maintained below the turbine inlet pressure. Otherwise, the engine backfires (known as surging).

It appears that an engine surge is the cause behind this engine blowing up.

[blackouttsi]

Well, also take into account that the intake is variable too. Aerodynamics change at supersonic speeds and the engine must cope with both conditions.

[rpaull3]

ok i work on that engine seen in the vid, and the reason the nozzle moves open and closed is to keep the n1 (first 3 stages of compression and last 2 turbine stages) from overspeeding, and also to let out the massive backpressure created when going into augmentor.

[OakRidgeBob]

Whoa! Someone used the word "augmentor!" I haven't heard that in ages! I was a 2A671A.  Don't know what they call the AFSC today. Looks to me like the first stage spacer let go on this one.

[F110mech]

they still call it 2A671A, it was a 3rd stage disk failure

[themimoth]

augmentors are used on pulse jets to make them more eficient. by mixng cool air with superheated exhaust gasses. the engine in the vid didnot have one. afterburner is probably the word you where after...

[F110mech]

according to the tech data on this motor PW F100-100 it's called an Augmentor :)

[F110mech]

And it does mix secondary bypass air "cool air" with exhaust gas air...

[GroovyVideo2]

Compressor quit spinning in less than a second -

thats a lot of spinning momentum to stop -

[dhemi1]

was that a compressor surge or what?

[jtmjtm2001]

Oops - back to the ol' drawing board. HA HA!

[Stormrider444]

too bad there is no sound

[dawson4545]

Compressor failure if I was to take a stab at it

[mountainthrasher500]

I think this happened around 91 or 92. Disk failure, I remeber the tcto that came out on it. I remember watching this video prior.

[nach657]

im gonna have to agree with blade or disk failure

[sdrfgvrfgvsfravgdsvS]

jet engine test in a closed room?

[ATFSCrash]

Yes and no. Prototype and test engines are ran in a test cell that is essentially closed and armored, however there is ducting for air. Some test cells can even control the amount of air and simulate high-altitude. There are usually also screens to prevent birds and other debris from entering the air ducts. The ducts are also usually designed to reduce the noise. There should be fire suppression built into the test cell, in this case I think it failed to trip.

[MacDaddyofEngines]

Yes, this is a one of a kind facility at Kadena AFB japan. Has 4 days that can test 4 seperate 100 or 220 engines at the same time (generally we don't ever have the opportunity but it can be done). Yes, there's screens on top of the building that come down on top and in front of the engine for airflow. This was the second engine blown up in this bay. The first one wasn't recorded and therefor we had to put up cameras in the bays due to the incodent. Also, this is due to the third stage failure.

[slinks2007]

i guess the nozzle was adjusted to the lowest while the fuel was over pumped at the same time forcing it to this reaction

[jetmech86]

no it's 3rd stage disk failure

[KUFULEE]

id say it speeded up 2 fast kabooom

!

[ATFSCrash]

KUFULEE: That's why dangerous tests should be done in a hardened test cell or at a remote region with people and recording equipment in a bunker.

The tests are done for several reasons: like to get a better idea of how much abuse an engine can take, and as a safety test to evaluate the odds of containment (and analyze the amount of collateral damage).

Sorry I accidentally deleted your post of questions.

[lejink]

just curious how engine makers test how 2 optimize longevity on an engine. like how long should a pilot allow the engine 2 cool after a flight 2 keep the engine in good condition, it seems like that would be a difficult test since u would have to test several engines over a long time. no?

[ATFSCrash]

lejink: Actually it is thermal shock/heat expansion in combination with structural loads stressing that can cause most wear and fatigue. Most engines and parts are subjected to tests that simulate 100,000 cycles of start, Max power and heat up, shut down and cool down cycles. It is possible to simulate several years of fatigue fairly accurate in a few weeks or months. It is very expensive but in most cases it is required for US or international aircraft airline and military certification.

[ATFSCrash]

lejink: Generally all the prototype components are tested individually with the 100k cycle component tests, then after all the components designs pass the component tests, then they are assembled and tested as assemblies for 100k cycles. The length between cycles is usually determined by temperature and can vary because of mass and environmental factors.

[jeffhill1964]

I reckon a quick couple of blends on the 1st stage should sort it out! ha ha.

[maddogmcrae]

That sucker blowed up real good!

[Saeedkachol]

do you think can it fix again?

What was the problem?

Welding, Material,...

[razgriz333]

fix it? there was nothing left but the engine shell, lol =P i bet they put the fuel injection for afterburners in the wrong place or it got sucked in the fan or something silly

[user2175]

yup, looks catastophic to me!!

[avionicswirenut]

Now were did that rag go.....oops...

[figget44]

lol

[Ghstwolf73]

Looks like the -100 that came apart on the stand at Kadena. Many a long day followed for the 3rd stage disk check after that.

[KSjetmech04]

Great video by the way. I used to work in the hush house with the exact same engines F-100-100.

[ATFSCrash]

If you ever spent a night in the doghouse because you suggested your spouse, kids or other family member should go to the hush house; you might be an A&P (aircraft power plant technician or engineer).

(That's my variation of just Foxworthy's redneck jokes)

[KSjetmech04]

lol good one

[KSjetmech04]

Hey ATFSCrash- Do you know what the cause of this was? Just curious

[ATFSCrash]

No but I suspect jetmack31 might be correct.  I suspect it might be a third stage fan disk failure on a F100-PW-100.

[x80568056]

Snap

[OneSkiWonder]

Good thing it happened in the test chamber and not on the plane in the air...

[f4cphantom2]

Was that a f100 turbo fan ??

[bodiguy]

I dunno...

I'm sure some would agree that catastrophic is a wee bit of a harsh comment

[torigolddust]

ok, what they mean is that it WOULD be catastrophic if already fitted in a working jet..of course not catastrophic in this test cell. duh.

[ATFSCrash]

bodiguy: I'm sure some would agree that it wasn't catastrophic; however there are people that still think the world is flat, the twin towers were destroyed with explosives, the US has extra terrestrial beings and spacecraft at area 51, if you drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid when a comet flies by you can catch a ride on a spacecraft, ect...

[ATFSCrash]

bodiguy: If you don't think it was catastrophic, I would like to see you stand next to one inside the cell that blows up like that. If you survive, If you still don't think it's catastrophic, then rebuild the engine within a week without exceeding the cost of the engine, and we'll put it in an airplane and send you up, if it'll even start and get off the ground without blowing up again.

[jlebesis]

LOL I hope you're being sarcastic? :) That looked destroyed to me by the end! hehe

[dieselscience]

Sure some would, we're called turbine mechanics, engineers and rocket scientists.

[salemcripple]

And that's why they have those cells!

[cheeseboat15]

X3 So good

[millercork]

actually bruffy 68 engines go boom shalackalack BOOM

[flyer892007]

oops i thought that was the fuel line not the oil line...

[xXxmidgexXx]

My tooth came out while watching this.

[bruffy68]

engine go boom....

[LaserGuidance]

Ever have a bad day?

[mast3rmoose]

I don´t understand! The engine was there like two seconds ago...

[69HemiGTX]

"cause a fan never fails"

Really? United Airlines 232 heavy, 19JUL89

[pratoriann]

ahhhh now I remember where I left my 9/16 wrench! oops

[MyturBinisdrty]

must be korean

[Axetele]

Fan failure, prolly simulated. Those engines rarely, if ever, suffer such catastrophic failure due to at least double-redundant warning and control systems

[F110mech]

Wasn't simulated and it was the 2nd engine to shell-out in the same fashion, the first happend a year or two before the one your watching

[Chuckjagermeister]

Look out! That engine is about to throw up! Too late.

[rednecksinspace]

Why did the engine explode?

[F110mech]

3rd stage fan disk failure

[sudnass]

that should be on porpuse, cause a fan never fails...

there are vibration sensors, one for the fan...

[ATFSCrash]

"cause a fan never fails"

They do sometimes very rarely fail; I think this might be one of them.

[PerfectBlindness]

Erm, Did I just see a snuff video?

[bugsier5]

pitty of the bad picture!

awsome vid!

[F110mech]

yeah we use the same vcr tapes over and over, after a while the quality turns to crap

[SgtSavage166]

try DVD-RW's :P

[ATFSCrash]

DVD-RW didn't exist at the time of this recording. :P

[F110mech]

No DVD-RW's in 1991 and we still use VHS to this day, Recording engine runs is not required so why drop money in up-grading, plus the air force is broke :D

[mushmouth1981]

At the houses @ Kunsan, the video is now recorded on a hard drive that records over itself every 4 or 5 days.

[maddogmcrae]

She blowed up real good!

[F110mech]

apeppink, How does your comments apply to this jet engine video clip? This is a F-15 PW F100-100 engine exploding on a test stand, because of a 3rd stage fan disk failure. You seem to know a lot about what your talking about, but i dont see what it has to do with this at all... please inform

[ATFSCrash]

Related tangent, but not directly with aircraft engines. He had me confused too, but close enough. The Germans were the first I know of to use air intercooled blades or stators as far back as WWII. A cutaway is at WPAFB museum, that shows the cooling system ;).

[apeppink]

It was prompted by Kimmer6' comments. He mentioned a GE Frame 3 which is a heavy frame turbine, and things went on from there. I still like aviation though I haven't been involved in it in years. I used to be a C-130 mech/engr. in the Coast Guard in the late '60's.

[jasfromoz]

I was T-56 engine mech in the USMC during the late 80's and 90's. Worked the test cell, also, but never saw anything like this. Worst thing was a catastrophic engine oil leak...all over the golf course at MCAS El Toro. :)

[shiz302]

PW= Practically Worthless.

[sooner49]

oops

[CubanoSrA]

I work TestCell on the same engine. You have to have great respect for the ground man because as you can see, things can go very bad very quickly.

[seba5290]

i think some rabbit hopped in there,

[Turbo617]

Time it took to turn a good engine into a flaming pile, 0.1 seconds.

[kimmer6]

Test cell. Nice! I was standing next to a General Electric frame 3 in Bahrain, heard something funny, dove off the catwalk in slo-mo and hit the trip button on the way down. I hid behind a concrete pillar and it took maybe 20 seconds to go from 7100 rpm to dead stop. The ground shuddered. The casings contained the failure, I almost died of heart failure.

[apeppink]

Wow.

[apeppink]

What a disaster must ensue if steam flow is lost to the new steam cooled 1st stage nozzle turbines. Must be redundant flow loss trips on those.

[F110mech]

apeppink, dude what the hell are you talking about?

[ATFSCrash]

Steam cooling on aircraft gas turbines? I am familiar with air cooling turbine blades, but not steam.

[apeppink]

No. On heavy frame (electric power generating) gas turbines. Should've made that clear. Steam cooling is used in combined cycle units (gas turbine/steam turbine) in 1st stage nozzle and blade vanes to accommodate the high firing (combustion) temperatures employed for higher thermal efficiency. The new GE combined cycle units will convert 60% of the input fuel energy into busbar

[apeppink]

(electric) power, by far the highest in the world. Even higher if used in cogeneration (waste heat recovery for heating and air conditioning etc.). Next highest are the huge (MAN-B&W, Wartsila-Sulzer) 2 cycle marine diesels used on containerships etc., at ~50%. They too run in combined cycle - turbocharging, turbocompounding, waste heat recovery boiler (for steam turbine, fuel heating, hotel heating/air conditioning load),

[apeppink]

jacket water heat recovery (for seawater distillation etc.) shaft driven alternator, etc.

Some plants use light frame (aircraft gas turbines) with no fan (used as gas generators exhausting into power turbines), in special circumstances and on some ships. None are steam cooled that I'm aware of.

[apeppink]

See Kimmer6' comments above.

[apeppink]

Light frame turbines used in power generation, marine propulsion etc. are subject to more severe service in some ways, as they run MCR continuously while aircraft turbines run full power only during takeoff, all the remainder of their service cycle being at part load (except possibly military - sporadically running full power in dogfighting etc.).

[deijoh69]

It looks like the fist stage compressor blades or the screw failed and was injested into the engine.

[F110mech]

This was caused by 3rd stage fan disk failure, A known problem for the PW F100-100 engines.

[skinboy8]

Obviously a major malfunction...

[albionsseed]

When I was in the industry we refered to these events not as "explosions" but "energetic dis-assemblys"

[alphamone]

LOL, and is it sad that something like that does not surprise me? ;)

[alin0steglinski0]

lol ill have to use that one.

[jaxmkii]

was this a WOT blade out test?

[ATFSCrash]

It could be but I think it is a mishap. All the blade out tests I have seen have special filming, instrumentation, ect.... From what I see it looks like an everyday test.

[papichulo202000]

The only reason I ask is because I am in the USAF stationed in Okinawa, Japan at Kadena AB. I have worked for 6 years at the location where this motor came apart. This event happened in the early 90s, 1993 if I'm not mistaking. This guy is full of shit, because I have met some of the individuals involved in this accident. And, he was not one of the ones involved. Actually, this was the second engine in this facility that came apart, the first was not recorded.

[ATFSCrash]

I was not involved with the mishap, so I don't know; I am connected with the industry however I have not found anyone yet that knows. It's possible they know, but not willing to talk since it is a secretive field, however this happened a long time ago, so I doubt secrecy is an issue anymore, however it is good normal policy to have tight lips.

[DeskFlyer]

BOOM! Headshot!

[papichulo202000]

At what base did this engine blow up ??

[ATFSCrash]

I do not know, I had been trying to find out the date and location of this incident. It looks like it may have happened in a factory test cell. However it could have happened at an Air Force base, because I got the video from the Air Force. jetmack31 sounds like he might know if he is not joking, but it sounds like he is serious and knows what he is talking about.

[jetmack31]

No the tech was not me I was recording data next to the run man in the cab. The other tech is the ground observer. This is so we can have a set of eyes on both sides of the engine.

[jetmack31]

The engine was on the test stand for a trim it was removed from one of the acft. We had just completed an adjustment on the UC (Unified control) and advanced the throttle after the tech left. At that point the mishap occurred. You don't have the entire film posted I know it is hard to come by now as it was taken by the SIB (Safety investigation board)

[ATFSCrash]

Great comments and great video response.

I knew much of what you said but your comments have enlightened me and your video response is totally new to me.

You still seem evasive about the tech leavening the cell, was that you? ;) wink wink nudge nudge. Please don't take offence at my joke.

Thanks a million.

[jetmack31]

Let's set the record straight I was present in the control cab when this mishap occurred, second it is as bad as it looks. What you are seeing is the third stage fan disk as a result of a material defect on the third stage fan disk causing mishap. The fire that resulted is from engine oil, what you are not seeing is the fan disk actually spinning around the test bay. What makes this incident so freighting to look back on is our fire suppression system DID NOT FIRE AS IT WAS SUPPOSED TO.

[ATFSCrash]

Every other test cell fire I have seen, you don't see much after the deluge. I was wandering why there was no deluge.

Did they edit the film or did technician leave the cell just a few seconds before, as shown? In either case he could have had a bad day.

[jetmack31]

Remember that this is not just a fire it is a loss of the entire fan section most test cell fires people have seen are on commercial aircraft engines not military engines. Past military engine designs were not designed to contain a failure of the entire fan disk Which left the stator case; if you look at the end of the video you can see that there is no fan there just the stator case It is standard practice to not have any tech in the run bay during maintenance runs because of failures like this

[joshnc101]

Those little sparks that I see hitting the ground behind the engine, are those peices of turbine blades being thrown out?

[jetmack31]

See what happens when a third stage fan disk ona F100-PW-100 engine fails

[xXxmidgexXx]

i think something went inside.

[motorbreath22]

worthless limeys

[sensiseed84]

oh explosion!

[skywestav8r]

that will slow you down!