High Speed Compressor Facility R-4

The VKI R-4 test rig is a high speed compressor test bench with a closed loop system that can be pressurized from vacuum to 3 bars. This gives the possibility to modify independently the Reynolds number and then to test different operating conditions for an aero-engine (takeoff, cruise,…). The maximum shaft speed is 25 000 RPM. It has recently undergone a deep renovation phase mainly focused on a more efficient cooling system to stabilize the temperature even on high power regimes (500kW).