An Alternative Cruising Method (Constant Speed) for the Hercules C-130H: Relative Life Savings When Compared to the Constant Power One and the Effect of Several Engine Physical Faults

The total cost to purchase and operate a gas turbine engine is indeed quite substantial. Out of this, the biggest portion is the operating cost. In order to keep it as low as possible, a prime concern is to keep temperatures at the entry of the turbine at low levels. Therefore the effect of engine degradations should be understood and analysed, as well as the impact of the major hot section failure modes. This paper examines an alternative cruising method of constant speed for the Hercules C-130H, powered by the Alison T56-A-15 turboprop engine. This study is being done on a comparative basis to the constant power cruising method, which is applied until now. It is concerning the life savings deduced out of creep. Moreover, the effect of several engine degradations on engine life, for both constant speed and constant power cruising methods has been investigated.Copyright © 2002 by ASME