Detection-Driven Useful Life and Performance Life Remaining Prognostic Models for Aircraft Disk and Blade Propulsion Turbo Machinery

"Technology for extending the life of fielded systems offers the potential for signification savings in total ownership costs. On-board monitoring combined with physics-based analysis will instill increased confidence in prediction of remaining useful life.This, in turn, offers the potential to reduce premature part retirement and thus shifts part replacement costs to the out-years. Blisk components are a design combination of blade and disk elements with unique engineering attributes. For example, bliskdesigns tend to produce highly concentrated fatigue damage (compared to disks or blades) due to the fact that maximum vibratory stresses do not generally change location, flight to flight. Although prognostic systems need to consider unique aspects ofblisk components, most of the state-of-the-art work has been focused on disk or blade components as separate components. The proposed project will develop a probabilistic, physics-based framework for innovative, on-board prognostics for blisk components.The proposed focus of this Phase I project will be on a JSF 2nd Stage Lift Fan (blisk) component. Blisks can develop cracks are so small that they can?t normally be detected through routine maintenance or from onboard sensed data so this work is criticalto the overall JSF prognostics effort. The technology proposed herein will complement other prognostic development efforts through development of onboard software for evaluating a JSF blisk.