June 16, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed a three-year renovation to its High Energy Annex Test (HEAT) facility, which supports gas turbine combustor testing. The internally funded project reduces testing costs and expands HEAT’s capabilities to better serve evolving industry needs, particularly for alternative fuels.
SwRI’s HEAT facility was founded in 2016 to fill a critical need for real-world gas turbine combustion system testing.
“Modeling alone isn't sufficient,” said Griffin Beck, who oversees SwRI’s Propulsion and Energy Machinery section. “So SwRI created a facility with a controlled environment to test how combustors actually perform under realistic conditions. The HEAT facility supports physical combustor testing that validates designs, performance, and safety in real conditions.”
Additionally, the facility was designed to run continuous, high-quality tests—a rare capability that makes it ideal for realistic combustor testing as real-world turbines operate continuously. In recent years, SwRI identified improvements that could lower the cost of combustion testing. This included designing and testing a lower-cost combustion rig.
“Combustion testing is often expensive because each test requires a custom-built combustor,” Beck said. “We generated two alternative designs using additive manufacturing, which has resulted in an 80% reduction in costs compared to traditional methods.”
SwRI also began making improvements to the HEAT facility to meet the challenge of decarbonization and the demand for cleaner, lower-carbon fuels.
“Combustion systems extract stored chemical energy through a controlled release of heat from chemical reactions,” Beck explained. “Different fuels, particularly hydrogen, release energy at different rates compared to conventional fuels which can affect flame speed, localized temperatures, efficiency, and safety.”
To accommodate these new testing capabilities, SwRI adapted HEAT’s combustor setup to allow flexible switching between fuel types for clients. The facility underwent rigorous testing to ensure it could safely handle and test different types of fuels.
HEAT received a powerful new air compressor that allows it to run higher-pressure tests that simulate real-world turbine conditions. This upgrade tripled HEAT’s airflow and pressure capabilities, which is essential for safely testing hydrogen and synthetic fuels.
This project was funded through SwRI’s Internal Research and Development Program. In 2025, SwRI invested more than $13 million in tomorrow’s technology to broaden its knowledge base, expand its reputation as a leader in science and technology, and encourage its staff’s professional development. To learn more, visit Southwest Research Institute Internal R&D.
Read the project summary for “Heat Facility Improvements to Support a Carbon-Free Economy.”
For more information, visit Propulsion Technologies or contact Joanna Quintanilla, +1 210 522 2073, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238-5166.