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Photo, Print, Drawing Glenn Research Center, Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2, John H. Glenn Research Center 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

[ Data Pages from Survey HAER OH-136  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Glenn Research Center, Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2, John H. Glenn Research Center 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

Names

  • Historic American Engineering Record, creator
  • U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
  • Wasielewski, Eugene
  • Pinkel, Benjamin
  • Williams, Dan
  • Lundin, Bruce
  • Gelalles, Achille
  • Burns and Roe Company
  • Sam W. Emerson Company
  • Elliott Company
  • Roots-Connersville Corporation
  • Ross Heater Company
  • Treadwell Construction
  • General Electric Company
  • Pratt and Whitney
  • U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Glenn Research Center (GRC)
  • Arrighi, Robert S., historian
  • Christianson, Justine, transmitter
  • U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), sponsor
  • O'Bryan, Nancy, editor
  • Feher, Lori, editor
  • Passe, Lorie, editor
  • Schwinn, Quentin, photographer
  • Caswell, Bridget, photographer
  • Grills, Mark, photographer

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1968

Headings

  • -  national space program
  • -  testing
  • -  control rooms
  • -  testing equipment
  • -  air compressors
  • -  plumbing systems
  • -  mechanical system components
  • -  pumping stations
  • -  cooling towers
  • -  brick buildings
  • -  metal siding
  • -  Ohio--Cuyahoga County--Cleveland

Latitude / Longitude

  • 41.4145,-81.8656

Notes

  • -  The field records contain 8x10 prints of the images included in the historical report.
  • -  Significance: The Propulsion System Laboratory's two chambers, referred to as PSL No. 1 and PSL No. 2, could simulate the internal airflow conditions experienced by the Nation's most powerful engines over a full range of power and altitude levels. This allowed researchers to analyze the engine's thrust, fuel consumption, airflow limits, combustion blowout levels, acceleration, starting characteristics, and an array of other parameters. The range of PSL's studies was later expanded to include noise reduction, flutter, inlet distortions, and engine controls. The PSL was used to study the performance of a variety of rocket engines in the 1960s. PSL No. 1 and 2 served as a major component of NASA Glenn's advanced propulsion legacy that began in 1942 and continues today. The facility was a technological combination of the static-sea-level test stands and the complex AWT, which re-created the actual flight conditions one a larger scale. PSL's significance lies in the size and power of the engines it tested. When it became operational in 1952, the PSL was the Nation's only facility that could operate these large full-size engine systems in controlled altitude conditions. The ability to control the test environment was imperative in the advancement of the ever-increasing and complex turbojet systems. Today, PSL's successor, PSL No. 3 and 4, is NASA's only facility with this capability. PSL's two 14'-0"-diameter, 24'-0"-long chambers were first used to study the increasingly powerful jet engines of the early 1950s and the ramjets for missile programs such as Navaho and Bomarc. With the advent of the space program in the late 1950s, the facility was used to study complex rocket engines, including the Pratt & Whitney RL-10 that was used to power the Centaur rocket and Saturn I upper stages. In the mid-1960s, the PSL returned its focus to jet engines, which continued to grow in size and performance. It was a vital tool in studying complex programs such as inlet distortion and flutter and contributed to NASA's fly-by-wire research. The PSL served as a key component in NASA Glenn's sixty-five-year history of altitude testing of engines and was proven to be a robust test facility that could keep pace with the relentless advance of aerospace technology over the decades. The original chambers were versatile enough to study emerging propulsion systems such as the turbojet, ramjet, chemical rocket, and turbofan engines, and the PSL's work on the RL-10 rocket engine was essential to the success of the Centaur Program.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1597, N1598
  • -  Survey number: HAER OH-136
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1949-1952 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1955 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: after. 1960- before. 1969 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 2009 Demolished

Medium

  • Data Page(s): 138

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HAER OH-136

Source Collection

  • Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • oh2007

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • pdf

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  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HAER OH-136
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, U.S. National Aeronautics And Space Administration, U.S. National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics, Eugene Wasielewski, Benjamin Pinkel, Dan Williams, Bruce Lundin, et al., Schwinn, Quentin, Bridget Caswell, and Mark Grills, photographer. Glenn Research Center, Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2, John H. Glenn Research Center 0 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH. Ohio Cuyahoga County Cleveland, 1968. editeds by O'Bryan, Nancyitor, Feher, Loriitor, and Passe, Lorieitor, translateds by Christianson, Justinemitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/oh2007/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, C., U.S. National Aeronautics And Space Administration, U.S. National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics, Wasielewski, E., Pinkel, B., Williams, D. [...] U.S. National Aeronautics And Space Administration, S., Schwinn, Q., Caswell, B. & Grills, M., photographer, O'Bryan, N., Feher, L. & Passe, L., eds. (1968) Glenn Research Center, Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2, John H. Glenn Research Center 0 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH. Ohio Cuyahoga County Cleveland, 1968. Christianson, J., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/oh2007/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, et al., photographers by Schwinn, Quentin, Bridget Caswell, and Mark Grills. Glenn Research Center, Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2, John H. Glenn Research Center 0 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH. ed by O'Bryan, Nancyitor, Feher, Loriitor, and Passe, Lorieitor, trans by Christianson, Justinemitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/oh2007/>.