Leadership in Jet Engine Testing at INTA

Testing next-generation jet engines is a high-stakes business. In the rarified atmosphere of this competitive market, only a handful of companies worldwide have the facilities, equipment and know-how to provide such leading-edge testing services for the limited number of manufacturers developing these advanced engines. Testing programs are some of the most demanding of any industry, with contracts won or lost based on the ability to safely, rapidly and reliably perform highly specialized rigorous experiments and handle the massive amounts of output data from strain gauges, dynamic pressure transducers, tachometers, accelerometers, microphones, and other sensors. Hundreds of millions of Euros hang in the balance for the manufacturer and the testing company when sensitive, expensive prototypes expelling over 100,000 pounds of controlled explosive thrust are pushed to the limit with never-before-used materials, turbine blade geometries, nozzle shapes and other innovations. Speed and reliability are absolute necessities in performing these tests efficiently, closely monitoring engine behavior to avoid damage, while post-processing results quickly. Based on these, engineers study product performance and make necessary design changes to get next-generation engines into the air on schedule.