Flight evaluation of a simplified gross thrust calculation technique using an F100 turbofan engine in an F-15 airplane

A simplified gross thrust calculation technique was evaluated in flight tests on an F-15 aircraft using prototype F100-PW-100 engines. The technique relies on afterburner duct pressure measurements and empirical corrections to an ideal one-dimensional analysis to determine thrust. In-flight gross thrust calculated by the simplified method is compared to gross thrust calculated by the engine manufacturer's gas generator model. The evaluation was conducted at Mach numbers from 0.6 to 1.5 and at altitudes from 6000 meters to 13,700 meters. The flight evaluation shows that the simplified gross thrust method and the gas generator method agreed within plus or minus 3 percent. The discrepancies between the data generally fell within an uncertainty band derived from instrumentation errors and recording system resolution.