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Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL)
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Facility Fact

The PSL has supported Turbine-Based Combined Cycle Systems (TBCC), SR–71, F–5E/–5F, F–5A/B, C–9, F–15, F–16, EF–111A, A–10A, B52, F/A–18, F–22, and ECLIPSE.


C-2004-966: Technicians installing a jet engine in the PSL C-2004-961: Jet engine setup in the PSL
Facility Capabilities
The Propulsion Systems Laboratory is NASA's only ground-based test facility that can provide true flight simulation for experimental research on air-breathing propulsion systems.

Characteristics and Performance
  • Altitude simulation to 90,000 ft
  • Two engine test cells: PSL-3 and PSL-4
  • Mach Number Range:
    • PSL-3: to 3.0
    • PSL-4: to 4.0
    • PSL-4: Freejet Mach No. with auxiliary heater - to 6.0
  • Tied to central compressed air and exhaust systems
  • Thrust measurement: 50,000 lbf horizontal axis, 15,000 lbf vertical and lateral axes

Combustion Air System

  • Main Supply
    • 480 lbs/sec @ ambient temperature and 55 psia
    • 380 lbs/sec @ ambient temperature and 165 psia
    • 240 lbs/sec @ 1100°F and 165 psia
    • 380 lbs/sec @ -40°F and 25 psia (PSL-3)
    • 30 lbs/sec @ -90°F and 25 psia (PSL-4)
  • Cooling Air Supply
    • 100 lbs/sec @ ambient temperature and 55 to 165 psia

Altitude Exhaust System

  • Altitude Range: sea level standard to 90,000 ft
  • Mass Flow: up to 750 lbs/sec

Support Systems

  • Jet Fuel System: Two 25,000 gallon tanks supporting various types of fuel (JET-A, JP-4, JP-5, JP-8)
  • Natural Gas system: 10 inch header @ 50 psig
  • Gaseous Hydrogen System: 1 lb/sec @ 600 psig -- 3 lbs/sec @ 1100 psig, maximum pressure is 2400 psig
  • Gaseous Oxygen System: 3 lbs/sec @ 1200 psig, 10 lbs/sec @ 400 psig, maximum pressure is 2400 psig
  • Gaseous Nitrogen System: 132,000 scf @ 2400 psig
  • Hydraulic System: 100 gpm @ 3000 psig
  • High Pressure Hydraulic System: 100 gpm @ 6000 psig

Data Acquisition

  • Steady State Acquisition
    Escort, the steady state data acquisition system, uses an Alpha microprocessor to provide:
    • An X window based display
    • Real time acquisition and display of engineering unit converted data, as well as the resultant calculations
    • Computed performance calculations, which can be displayed in a variety of tabular and graphical formats
      • Custom tabular display pages
      • Scrolling plots
      • X-Y plots
      • Bargraph plots
      • Contour plots
      • Growing plots
    • Selectable limit checking with inverse video and alarming
    • 1 second update rate
    • Custom, application-specific features are available upon request

    Salient characteristics specific to the PSL data acquisition system are:
    • Analog data acquisition with the following accuracies:
      • Neff 400 is +/- 0.05% of range (480 channels)
      • Neff 600 is +/- 0.02% of range + 2µv (256 channels)
    • 736 Escort channels of which 588 are available for the test article
    • 432 thermocouples, type K
    • 48 thermocouples, configurable for type K, T or R
    • Off-site access to data
    • Other configurations and system expansion are available upon request

    Escort pressure data is acquired through digitally temperature compensated electronically scanned pressure scanners; known as NetScanners. The system consists of 16 port, rack mounted scanners with ranges from +/-15 PSID to +750 PSID, located outside the test chamber. Digital temperature compensation allows for long periods of time between calibrations while maintaining the overall system accuracy of +/-0.05% of range. Improved productivity is achieved since calibrations are not required during the test period.
    • Typically 448 ports of Netscanner pressures as follows:
      • 128 +/- 15 PSID Barometric Ref
      • 128 +/- 45 PSID Barometric Ref
      • 128 +/- 100 PSID Barometric Ref
      • 64 +500 PSID Barometric Ref
    • Other configurations and system expansion to 576 pressures are available upon request
  • Transient Data Acquisition
    The Dewetron transient data system provides multi-channel high speed digitized acquisition of rapidly changing cyclic or non-periodic impulse type events. The system consists of:
    • 126 channels with 24 bit sigma-delta A/Ds per channel
    • Data rates from 1,000 to 200,000 samples/ second
    • Real time displays
      • Tabular (Actual, Average, AC RMS, Pk-Pk, Min, Max )
      • Scope
      • FFT, PSD
      • Strip Chart
      • Others
      • Near real-time data transfer to customers in standard or custom formats
    • Multiple, independent display capability
    • Derived "math" channels can be calculated, displayed and stored along with analog data
    • The DeweSoft software can be loaded onto a customer's Windows machine at no cost to be utilized for quick data analysis
  • Other Features
    • Gas Analysis, Infrared Imaging, and Schlieren for Freejet Installations can be made available
    • Stringent Security Requirements
Further Information
Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL)
Provides true flight simulation for air-breathing propulsion
+ View the fact sheet (PDF)
PSL Icing Fact Sheet
+ View the fact sheet (PDF)

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Last Updated: April 12, 2013