| A methodology for analyzing and documenting measurement uncertainty within a turboshaft engine test facility is presented. The practice is developed from accepted American Society of Mechanical Engineers practices, which enables application to turboshaft engine test facility measurement parameters. The practical applications presented within this thesis offer a road map and guide for government and commercial turboshaft engine test facilities.;This analysis is focused on the Redstone Aviation Propulsion Test and Research (RAPTR) facility, which is government owned and government operated. A lay-out and measurement scheme of the facility is presented. A review of accepted uncertainty analysis methodologies is provided in order to clarify the analysis approach. A discussion of the facility design and calibration practices is provided in order to lay a foundation for the 'lessons learned' aspect of this work. Data time period appropriateness, signal conditioning, and averaging are essential to the quality and steadiness of test measurements and are, therefore, addressed within this thesis.;The numerical basis for this analysis comes from data that was obtained during a Low Cycle Fatigue test conducted at RAPTR during the summer of 2003. This test was conducted on a single engine within a timeframe of three months. Testing was conducted within a broad spectrum of environmental operating conditions, which significantly affect turbine engine performance.;The analysis portion of this work focuses on the characterization of systematic, random, and total measurement uncertainties of operating condition parameters, direct measured parameters, and engine performance result equations. The analysis provides an approach for determining the systematic measurement accuracy associated with an uncertainty estimation of a calibration regression curve. Further, the analysis provides a direct calculation approach, which fully accounts for poorly understood or known correlated random uncertainty effects within a measurement, for determining the random uncertainty of a result equation.;This analysis has determined that the uncertainty associated with all measurement parameters satisfy Army accuracy standards, except for the fuel flow measurement which is slightly outside of the standard. |
