RBSL UK has strengthened the UK’s sovereign defense engineering capability with a significant investment in a new Vibration Test Facility (VTF) at its Telford site featuring a one-of-a-kind vibration test system from Team Corporation – with vibration control by Data Physics Corporation.
RBSL UK’s Vibration Test Facility in Telford is designed to recreate the demanding conditions that complex systems face in the real world. With the ability to move up to 40 tons across three axes – vertical, pitch and roll – it gives engineers the ability to test, measure and understand how systems perform under pressure. The facility is supporting Challenger3, while its versatility opens the door to applications across defense, aerospace, automotive, rail, energy and civil engineering.
The VTF can recreate the demanding vibration and movement experienced by military vehicles and equipment in operation. Engineers can use real-world data to reproduce these conditions in a controlled environment, allowing them to assess reliability, identify potential issues and understand how platforms and their systems are likely to perform over extended periods of service.
For Challenger 3, this provides an additional way to understand how the vehicle and its systems respond to demanding operational conditions. The facility complements physical trials, modelling and other engineering analysis, helping build the evidence required to support the reliability and performance of the platform.
Crucially, the VTF has been designed as a long-term UK engineering capability rather than for a single program. Its scale and flexibility mean it has the potential to support future defense platforms and technologies, as well as applications in sectors including aerospace, automotive, rail, energy and civil engineering.
This kind of testing is key because the vibration created by a tracked running gear can be intense, shaking computers, sensors (things like gyroscopes), and optics to the point that they stop working. So, this kind of testing is designed to get ahead of that and make sure the design will meet expected maintenance intervals etc.
Capable of accommodating structures and assemblies weighing up to 40 tons, the facility can reproduce complex combinations of movement, including vertical motion, pitch and roll. This enables engineers to recreate demanding operating conditions and conduct accelerated durability and reliability testing without relying solely on extended physical trials.
Rob Hunter, Vibration Test Manager, said:
“The VTF gives our engineers a powerful new way to understand complex platforms. We can recreate demanding operational conditions, measure how equipment responds and use that evidence to make better-informed engineering decisions.
Challenger 3 is an important application, but this is a capability we have deliberately designed with the future in mind. Its flexibility means we can adapt it to different engineering challenges, supporting future programs and technologies while retaining critical engineering knowledge and skills here in the UK.”
The facility is supported by specialist engineers and technicians working across mechanical and electrical engineering, testing, instrumentation, software and data analysis. It will also provide opportunities to develop high-value, transferable skills among apprentices and the next generation of British engineers and technicians.
By combining advanced infrastructure with British engineering expertise and skilled people, the VTF demonstrates RBSL UK’s continued investment in sovereign UK defence capability.
As the UK strengthens its defense industrial base, investments such as the VTF help build the domestic skills, infrastructure and industrial capacity required to develop, assure and support increasingly complex defense equipment.
The VTF therefore represents more than a new piece of testing infrastructure. It is a long-term investment in the people, technology and sovereign engineering capability needed to support Challenger 3, future British defense programs and the technologies of tomorrow.
Recreating real-world conditions. 3 degrees of freedom: vertical – pitch – roll.
The vibration test system consists of the following:
3 Team 90 series actuators with 6-inch peak-to-peak displacement
– 17 inch/sec peak velocity
– 88,600 lbf sine force
6 Team spherical couplings
– Each coupling is rated for 150,000 lbf peak force and +/- 6 degrees angular deflection
Table, air columns, and safety system provided by RBSL