Innovative application of quality methods in the homogeneity assessment of the F-16 aircraft group in terms of generated noise

Given the high-power concentration of combustion engines used in military aviation, it is reasonable to measure the instantaneous surges in the sound pressure level. Therefore, a research question was raised regarding the differences in this level for various aircraft engines of the same type (F100-PW-229) to assess their size and statistical significance. The aim of the paper is to discuss the attempt to check the significant difference between the parameters of the acoustic level generated by the aircraft engines. The measurements were carried out for 32 engines of the F-16 Block 52+ multirole aircraft during takeoff process. The parameters of noise in the point system and in the octave distribution were subject to analysis. Statistical methods dedicated to assessing production stability, i.e. the Shewhart chart, were applied. The results of the analysis showed that the discrepancies generally do not exceed a value of +/− 3σ . Therefore, it can be concluded that the analogous results for F-16 noise are homogeneous. Thus, the Shewhart chart method proved useful for assessing the homogeneity of these measurements.