The influence of structural features on vibration of the propeller engine test bench

The paper concerns the prototype of a propeller engine test bench stand designed for durability tests of airplane piston engines of 150-250 kW power range (Ostapski, 2011b, 2008). The technical data of the prototype engines to be tested on the bench have been adopted. It is obvious that at the beginning of the design process there is no information about the vibration spectrum of the propeller shaft, which is at the production process at that time. The basic 3D model of test bench constructional variants are presented in the article. Modes and frequencies of free vibrations are defined in ANSYS environment for both the loaded and unloaded structure and for various design variants. The estimated vibration frequency range for the propeller shaft varies from ƒ = 22 to ƒ = 360 Hz. In such a case, there is no easy way for rational test bench construction to be completely “untuned” to the vibration forcing load. This is the reason for introducing the basic model and few its modifications. After first engine tests, it should be possible to separate natural vibrations of the bench and high amplitude vibrations of the engine.