Rolls Royce Olympus

Test run: Rolls Royce Olympus at S&S Turbines open-air test cell.
One of the largest turbojet engines, about 40 thousand Hp in the industrial version shown here.
Looking in the front at startup, you can clearly see the freshly cleaned elements of the low-pressure compressor:
First are the struts, which hold the front main bearing firmly in place.
The LP rotating shaft is supported by this bearing.
Second, you see the copper-colored inlet guide vanes. On many engines these are able to move, but in the Olympus they are fixed.
Then the blades of the first stage of the turning compressor shaft.
They are made of solid titanium alloy, and it took 2 days to hand polish them.
Next, the first stage of compression is made complete by stator vanes, which are directly behind the spinning blades.
The Olympus is closely related to the engine used the Avro Vulcan Bomber, and a later, uprated version was used in the Concorde. Both used four engines, with afterburner on the Concorde. This engine does not have an afterburner.
This engine is used to generate electricity. A lot of it!

[@thomasschoberwalter5770]

This sound is awesome. One of the best sounding engines.

[@tjp353]

When I was an apprentice at BAe Woodford I helped the old boys (ex-Vulcan workers and RAF personnel) change an Olympus in XM603. It was their toy - they knew it would never fly again but enjoyed playing with it and running it's engines. An awesome plane. The cockpit had a wonderful musty smell that seems to be unique to old aircraft. One of the old RAF guys had actually bailed out of a doomed Vulcan - he was the last out, just as the airflow was closing the hatch. They were some amazing people.

[@twowheelexploration9228]

That's amazing.

[@Stoney3K]

I've seen the Vulcan fly up close and personal, she's a magnificent aircraft. And the howling sound of those Olympus engines really made my day when she came in for short final!

[@WarhammerWings]

The song of two of the best aeroplanes ever built, the Avro Vulcan and Concorde.

[@TheTomyossarian]

I love the spool-down noise

[@AgentJayZ]

Yes, this is a ground running version of the Concorde engine, and we certanily don't want it to get away from us. It is mounted in a structural steel frame. That's the green thing. The frame is welded to 8 6X6 steel posts anchored 20 ft into the ground below a 1 foot thick concrete slab.

[@TheOwl]

Sounds like an air raid siren winding up. Very cool 😎

[@AgentJayZ]

Me too! The thing that gets it all moving is a 90Hp hydraulic motor. It's right in front at 1:07, with three hoses connected to it. Smaller than a 1lb coffee can.

[@TheQuicksilver580]

Nice to see one of our engines still going out there I probably worked on that very engine in one way or another being that I am based at the place named on the first nameplate, we still repair and overhaul these engines as I did the Vulcan Oly and that was in the early '70's!

[@beforeiforget7884]

The Olympus was originally designed by Bristol not R R hence the name Olympus, Bristol used Greek names for there aircraft engines, were as R R use British river names for jets and birds of pray names for piston engines. Bristol's later became part of R R. Just a little fact for those who are interested. Nice vid and info, thanks pointing out that the Olympus was widely used in other forms.

[@Dr_Won_Hung_Lo]

Before I Forget Well that tag at the end says Rolls-Royce and Olympus on it

[@sbchoudhuryable]

Beautiful sound....very clear affect! I love it. Please upload more! 😊😊😊😊😊😊😣

[@AgentJayZ]

@TheQuicksilver580 I think that's fantastic. I was not aware the RR still supported these. Good to hear from you.

[@AgentJayZ]

With industrial engines, like these, there are very few such restrictions. The owners of the engines are free to modify and maintain them as they wish. Makes things interesting sometimes.

[@taffydavenport1965]

Rolls Royce does live up to its name. FANTASTIC

[@VW19900]

I love that sound. Thanks for uploading!

[@AgentJayZ]

The L1011 airliner used the Rolls Royce RB-211 hi- bypass turbofan. It was a new airliner that was the first to use a new engine, and the whole story is quite a tale. There's a good bit of it in the article on the L-1011 at Wiki...

[@AgentJayZ]

That's an excellent question. The Olympus is a two-spool engine, which means it has a separate high-pressure compressor and turbine inside the low pressure, which is the one you can see. When fuel is burnt, the hot gases pass through the HP turbine, which is connected via a short, hollow shaft to the HP compressor. Behind the HP turbine is the LP turbine, which is connected via a long shaft passing through the HP shaft, to the LP compressor. The two systems are not mechanically connected.

[@AgentJayZ]

It's the largest and most exciting engine we test. The 593 powered the Concorde. The 2022 you see here is used to generate a lot of electricity.

[@Thompoux]

I love the sound, especially at the startup.

[@gchampi2]

Lovely... Pity it's not one of the aero versions though - one out of a concorde or vulcan really would make the ultimate snowblower;) Gawd bless ole' Sir Frank!!

[@AgentJayZ]

An Olympus in an aircraft can be brought to full power from idle in 10 seconds or so. In industrial situations, throttle-ups are usually done gradually, as it stresses the hot parts less. Sometimes in stand-by electrical back up power applications, the response time from starting to full power can be as little as 30 seconds. A very gradual first throttle-up of a newly built Olympus is in my video "Jet Power: very loud"

[@Jademyheart]

Fantastic Footage 👌 Like the Sighnage too , class🖒

[@AgentJayZ]

Yes, exactly. A helicopter has a turboshaft engine, which is a two stool engine very much like a turbofan, except the LP turbine is connected to a gearbox instead of an LP compressor. So it is called a power turbine instead of an LP turbine. In a Bell Jet Ranger, the HP turbine and compressor are called the Gas Generator, and it spins at 51,000 rpm. The power turbine about 40,000, and the output of it's atttached gearbox is 6,000rpm. The helicopter's GB reduces that to 400rpm (ish)

[@AgentJayZ]

All modern fighters use a low bypass turbofan, because it is more efficient, and the afterburner works even better because the combined exhaust flow from the core and the bypass has more available oxygen than the exhaust from a turbojet. The Olympus is one of the few dual spool turbojets out there. The P&W J57 is another.

[@AgentJayZ]

This engine is used to generate 40 MW of electricity in a natural gas fired electrical power station. Other aeroderivative industrial gas turbine engines can be used to move natural gas for long distances in large pipelines, so those power stations have fuel to produce electricity. Some Olympus engines are used by the Royal Navy to propel their aircraft carriers. Some are also used to provide the power for offshore oil platforms. High power to weight ratio is their main advantage.

[@AgentJayZ]

This engine does not produce thrust, but is an industrial powerplant rated at 25MW. I have seen some non-afterburning Olympus flight engines rated at 35,000 lbs thrust. The Concorde used a much-upgraded version of the Olympus, called the 593. An industrial version of that engine was designed, but never produced, and it was rated at 50MW.

[@AgentJayZ]

I think a big turbofan might implode our test cell. It would be great to test one, but the chances are slim. We test Industrial gas generators, which are almost idendical to aero turbojets. There is always a remote possibility, since we are the go-to guys when it comes to turbine engine repairs.

[@AgentJayZ]

@K1w1scot It's designed to have minimal effect. Pressure at the inlet is measured and compared to ambient, and the two are compared to get the loss caused by the safety screen. Small, but used in calculation of power generated.

[@AgentJayZ]

The J58 in the SR71 did act as a ramjet above a certain speed. ( not sure of the transition point). Bypass is a term describing that portion of the airflow that is diverted around the combustors and turbines of the engine, also some of the compressor stages. The term does not apply to the J58, because when acting as a ramjet, all of the intake air is being mixed with fuel and burned in the combustion section. It is a very interesting design of engine. I'm not aware of any other like it.

[@AgentJayZ]

Not as much as you might think. The Low pressure shaft gets to about 4,000 rpm, and the Hp gets to about 8,000 max. But it's big and heavy. The LP rotor is about 36 inches in diameter, and weighs close to a ton.

[@AgentJayZ]

The air entering the engine passes through the LP compressor, then the HP compressor. It is then discharged into the combustors, mixed with fuel, and ignited. It passes through the HP turbine, and then the LP turbine, then rushes out the exhaust to the atmosphere. The HP system turns faster than the LP system, and runs at a hotter temperature. There are few good animations of isngle spool turbojets out there. Think of the Olympus as a zero-bypass turbofan.

[@xardas110]

I love that sound!

[@AgentJayZ]

The exhaust gases are used to turn a power turbine, which drives an electrical generator

[@AgentJayZ]

I was also lucky enough to see a Vulcan fly, at an airshow in Bellingham, Washington way back when. It was incredible at full power, but when it approached the field in what was called a stealth approach - engines at min power, it was silent until right on top of us.

[@AgentJayZ]

All of the Olympus engines we have rebuilt so far have been from electrical generating applications.

[@TFWS6]

I love your videos dude!

[@AgentJayZ]

Well, as you can see, our screen is larger than the engine intake, and this is an industrial gas generator... which is equivalent to an aero turbojet. A modern airliner has turbofan engines... which means there is another turbine at the back driving a very large compressor stage ( a fan) at the front. The fan is huge, and a screen like ours would need to be about 10 ft by 10 ft just to cover it. But there is more to the story...

[@AgentJayZ]

Hey, good question. In a helicopter engine, additional turbine stages, usually on a separate shaft, are used to power an output shaft or spline which then powers the Heli's main transmission. For electrical generation the Olympus is the gas generator, and is connected via a short duct to a separate power turbine, which turns a shaft connected to the generator. The power turbine in this case is not part of the engine.

[@AgentJayZ]

If you look at the video (s), you will see that we are nearby the intake at startup and idle. As the engine is taken to higher power levels, we move farther away from it. Similar to the safety zones used around airliners. However this engine does not move as much air as a large turbofan, so 40 ft or so away from the intake is safe at full power.

[@AgentJayZ]

The HP system would run by itself, but is made more efficient and powerful by the supercharging effect of the LP system. The HP system is the one that is mechanically driven buy the starter, so it might be turning at a few hundred rpm and starting to make a whining sound when the LP system is just starting to move. We have the ignitors sparking right at the start, and introduce fuel to the combustors when the HP is about 2000rpm.

[@AgentJayZ]

Sounds about right. There are a few different ways to look at how thrust translates to power. Mathematically, thrust is force, and force times distance over time equals power. Distance over time is speed. But thrust changes as the plane increases in speed. This engine, when used to generate electrical power, is capable of producing over 30 Megawatts of real, measurable power. 746 watts per horsepower

[@AgentJayZ]

No aircraft left to use them. They are huge, fuel-hungry turbojets, used in big planes that go really fast. They were in the TSR-2. Vulcan, and Concorde... none of which fly anymore.

[@HB3ZZY]

That engine has a very unique sound.

[@AgentJayZ]

@Ilicium In the industrial engines, the VSVs are run with power from a separate pump, but it is pumping the engine lube oil. So the oil system has two pressure pumps at least, delivering oil through filters to the VSV system as well as the bearings, and several scavenge pumps returning the oil through filters to a remote reservoir

[@AgentJayZ]

@snehesten I don't know... I started putting up engine test videos in 2007 because at that time all I could find were videos on the little RC engines.

[@AgentJayZ]

This test takes about 5000L of fuel, and requires the work of 4 specialists for 3 or 4 days, depending on a variety of factors. The engine is no longer sold by Rolls Royce, and its replacement, the industrial RB211, will run $10million or so. Less for used ones. We have an Olympus waiting for you at less than one tenth of that.

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

God that's a beautiful sound (start up)

[@AgentJayZ]

The aerospace industry sure loves its acronyms and jargon. It stands for Foreign Object Debris... or maybe foreign object damage... but lots of times you hear "FOD damage". There was even an article about a heat-exchanger overhaul company who described radiator sludge as FSOD: foreign solid object debris. Foreign because presumably the object was sucked into the engine. Technically that would leave engine bits breaking off to be called Domestic... but I've never heard anyone say that.

[@AgentJayZ]

Because the fan on a turbofan moves about 5 or 6 times the air that the core does, our screen would need to be about14 to 18 feet in daimeter, just to allow that airflow through it without causing so much resistance that it might collapse and be drawn into the engine... causing destruction of the engine. Airliners fly at about 600 mph, and the drag caused by such a screen would cause either:

[@AgentJayZ]

The short answer is... YES. Rolls Royce purchased Bristol idontknowhowmany years ago, and the continued the development of the Olympus. Later they created the slightly modified industrial powerplant you see here. Very closely related. In fact, they dream of flying.

[@Herve747]

thanks for waking up this old lady !

[@AgentJayZ]

@AirShowFan22 No, the B-52 has had a couple of different engines throughout its history, and there has been talk of fitting them with four turbofans. Rather than repeating what is already out there, I suggest you check out any of the great B-52 sources out there.

[@AgentJayZ]

@GTADriver64 This is an industrial Olympus more closely related to the engines in the Vulcan Bomber. The 593, used in the Concorde was a more powerful development. Plans to create an industrial version of the 593 were never carried out by Rolls Royce. The GE LM2500 has largely taken over the market niche that the industrial Olympus was competing for.

[@xoio]

Fabulous!

[@AgentJayZ]

@abhiginimav You are correct...

[@skeletron4748]

Music to any concorde lover

[@AgentJayZ]

That is exactly the shape of some intake screens used in test cells, or in industrial installations... where size and weight are not a consideration. These engines consume a lot of air - over 200lbs per second for the Olympus - and the resistance to airflow cause by the mesh creates tremendous forces. The efficiency reduction and loss of airspeed caused by intake screens would be large, and has been deemed unacceptable.

[@AgentJayZ]

The Vulcan bomber was powered by 4 Olympus engines. The TSR-2 was built to be powered by 2. This is an industrial Olympus, most closely related to the marine version, which was used to power some British large ships and aircraft carriers.

[@JNX07]

I want my car to sound like this when starting up.

[@AgentJayZ]

The 737-200 used the Pratt & Whitney JT8D

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

God I love the sound of a turbine engine starting up :D

[@AgentJayZ]

Yes, thanks... I should have known that. The TSR 2 was an amazing plane. I feel like the Arrow was our TSR 2, and vice versa.

[@AgentJayZ]

At idle, the mesh is at about the closest safe distance. Nothing has ever been up against it, though. I imagine if you walked up to the safety screen at full power there's a good chance you would be stuck to it. And because a person occupies a fairly large area restricting airflow, the screen might not be able to hold in the face of such a force. Of course the inlet is being watched by several people at all times, so anything on the screen would be cause for instant shutdown.

[@AgentJayZ]

@pelagic6 The engines in the Vulcan are closely related to this industrial version. The Concorde used Olympus 593's, which were updated and uprated... heavily hot-rodded versions of the Olympus which have quite a different appearance.

[@AgentJayZ]

Hmm.. I thought this was settled years ago. But , thanks to your comment, I noticed it's me who made the error in the info section. All corrected now. Thanks!

[@darkscienceyt]

Im looking to go into a field just like this...would this be considered Aerospace Engineering?

[@AgentJayZ]

Look around for tech schools that teach gas turbine courses. The US navy also teaches and employs a lot of Turbine techs. You can go aircraft, or industrial. You will find out if you do a bit of searching.

[@AgentJayZ]

Yes, they are almost identical to the marine versions.

[@AgentJayZ]

@TheMrCJist Silencers, yes. When a modern natural gas fired powerplant is running six or more of these engines, the noise outside the facility can be barely noticeable. Co-generation is one way of improving overall plant efficiency. And yes, we have an Olympus for sale right now. Also RR Avons, Speys, GE LM1500s, and Orendas. Call us at 250-785-5272 for GE Products or 250-262-2030 for Rolls Royce.

[@AgentJayZ]

@chrismkay3 Part of the reason we show the test runs on KZbin is so the customer representatives who are not able to attend the actual test can see it. ...and really, what does surplus mean? Extra, not needed or wanted, of no use and so for sale at scrap prices...? No, none of the engines in my videos fit that description. They all have a job to do, and that's why money is being spent on keeping them running.

[@AgentJayZ]

@KI11YOU Dude... this is a marine/industrial Olympus. Both the industrial and the aero versions share the exact same gas generator section. Put a nozzle behind a gas generator, and you have a thrust engine. Put a power turbine behind a gas generator, and you have a turning output shaft. The gg, or "core", is the same for both.

[@MatthewN56736n4]

Thats a big turbojet!!!!!!!!

[@DScottDuncan]

Short-n-sweet!

[@AgentJayZ]

@Mark1Spitfire i'm guessing the Concorde, because its Olympus 593 engines were much more powerful, and fitted with an afterburner. Compared to the Vulcan's non-AB Olys.

[@robpeter1]

sounds just like the vulcan b1 engines which had that more pronounced whine i love it.

[@AgentJayZ]

It's about 8 to 10 minutes from first crank to idle. I'd upload the whole thing, but the clip would exceed the size limit.

[@AgentJayZ]

@johnp94 This one is an industrial Mk 2022. It's related to the engines in the Vulcan, but it was designed for use in power generation and ship propulsion.

[@royduck2]

I know we have the 50.000 hp one at work overseas Rolls Royce and it is a nice one to run to

[@Solidboat123]

Olympus was also used in the TSR.2, and is used in Type 42 destroyers and the Invincible-class carriers

[@AgentJayZ]

The F-4 used two J79s, and the A-4 (most of them) used the J52. These are both single-shaft turbojet engines. The F-404 is a two shaft low bypass turbofan engine. The more powerful F-414 is a two shaft low bypass turbofan. I've always thought of the F-404 as a "modern" engine. I call the other fighter engines low bypass in comparison to the high bypass airliner engines.

[@AgentJayZ]

@TheRguru1 Rolls Royce afterburning turbofans... also the current wold land speed record holding engine. Two of them in Thrust SSC. Also the subject of a couple of engine test videos I have up...

[@AgentJayZ]

@cheetawolf It's a Parker fixed ratio axial piston hydraulic motor, producing about 90 Hp. I think it's an F-11-10. They are a few grand.

[@AgentJayZ]

@bobodd5 Earthquakes? ... that, and the all capitals thing indicates the level of understanding posessed. Thanks for your input...

[@AgentJayZ]

@MrATWX The VC-10 used the Conway, which was about half the size of an olympus. The Conway was one of the first bypass engines, also known as turbofans. The olympus was a turbojet, with no bypass airflow.

[@AgentJayZ]

@teestiger1 This is an industrial Olympus, of the 2202 series, which are based on the Olypus engines in the Vulcan bomber. The Olympus was further developed to much greater power into the 593 series, which were used in the Concorde... So... no and yes.

[@AgentJayZ]

@ahart55301 This is an industrial version more closely related to the non-afterburning Olympus used in the Vulcan bomber. The Concorde used the Mk593, which was upgraded in many ways to be a more powerful engine... and then it was blessed with an afterburner ( "reheat" in RR-speak)

[@AgentJayZ]

@Ilicium The Olympus has a hydraulic starter. More views of it in my other olympus videos.

[@kevat310]

Great set of vids you have made. Keep up the great work. I used to work on RR RB211-22B's and 524's on L1011's. I miss them. Great sound, especially the "roar" at take off power settings. Maybe one day you will get one in your test cell? Can your rig support 40 - 50 000+ lbs thrust? If so, it would be great to see one running again. Anyway, keep up the good work.

[@AgentJayZ]

Interesting comment. We use a couple thousand litres of liquid propane during our tests which are 15-20 min long. You guys must have been running at high power settings the whole time; we only hit full power for a couple of minutes during the whole test regime.

[@digranni128]

Concorde used it! :D

[@taffydavenport1965]

Indeed she did. Were the only engines that could produce the power to take her to such incredible speed. I very much miss the Concord Fleet...

[@camdev2005]

agreed

[@AgentJayZ]

Earplugs are great, and some of us wear them inside our earcup-type hearing protection.

[@GREEVES246]

i used to work for preci spark they make inserts for the static compressor blade and combustion chambers for the new trent series engines

[@lafaietesoares]

very good...very good.

[@K1w1scot]

Any issues with the mesh in front of the bell mouth causing compressor stalls at all? Must create merry hell with the airflow

[@DARKSCOPE001]

@Skippy585 sort of. the engines used in the black bird were actualy a turbo jet untill about mach 3 then there were bypass tubes that fed ram pressure air from the pre compressor stage directly into the power section of the engine because the aircraft was moving so fast this gave the proper pressure wall for the burning fuel to push against (how jet engine basicly works is expanding fuel pushes against the pressure wall behind it expanding into the turbine section) thus becoming more efficent

[@AgentJayZ]

Your guess is as good as mine. depends on the p[ower turbine you hook this gas generator to. depends on the electrical generator you hook that to. Depends on how hard you run the engine. Gas turbine are only efficient at 100% design speed, and many applications run them at less, so they are less efficient. Depends on so many things...

[@AgentJayZ]

@ShadowGKCP less than that. It's bolted to a stationary frame.

[@carterbalch2792]

For this vid, instead of the cat 272 skid steer starting the Olympus, was there an alternate hydraulic starter?

[@AgentJayZ]

It's an industrial engine with a hydraulic starter. However the hydraulic power is supplied is of no concern, as long as the pressure and volume of flow are adequate. When installed for service, there is likely an electric motor driving a hydraulic pump somewhere near the engine.

[@barthoedemaker]

The later series Olympus engines use an extra low pressure stage to increase overall thrust performance. The 593 was actually a whole new overhaul of the 320.

[@johnfromdon]

@AgentJayZ The Conway was the first bypass engine, as well as being totally developed by Rolls-Royce where the Olympus was a Bristol engine. But thats the Industrial engine, so this was tailored to ground usage - for example in the UK - they were used in Power Stations as auxilliary generator sets.