High Speed Continuous Blade Health Monitoring for Turbine Engines

This Phase II project proposes the innovative use of radar sensors to address limitations in non-contacting stress measurement systems (NSMS). By using radar sensors with a continuous data stream, as opposed to time of arrival from discrete sensors, continuous blade vibration measurements could be performed over a portion of the blade arc of travel. By processing the data in the frequency domain, the data reduction process will be able to efficiently separate the contributions of the active modes of vibration and directly provide accurate blade stress calculations. The feasibility of the radar system was demonstrated through benchtop testing as well as with a compressor test rig that was designed, built, and commissioned by MSI during the Phase I project. Comparing data from the radar system with strain gage measurements proved the feasibility of using radar to make continuous blade vibration measurements. Both time domain and frequency domain data were analyzed, demonstrating that the system resolution is capable of detecting very low levels of blade displacement and stress.