EARLY DETECTION OF FATIGUE CRACKS IN TURBINE AERO-ENGINE ROTOR BLADES DURING FLIGHT

The author shows results of research done in the Air Force Institute of Technology concerning design, development and implementation of modern diagnostic systems for aero-engines. The papers gives brief description of a project of a new advanced monitoring system basing on non-contact blade-vibration measurement. Recent monitoring systems for engines offer a great potential to reduce the high maintenance costs of aircraft while increasing reliability and safety. These systems check for abnormal engine responses to detect failures, saving lives and reducing secondary damage to the aircraft. A phenomenon of dynamic change of an aero-engine compressor blades natural frequency in course of fatigue cracks propagation in their roots on the example of a Polish turbojet engine is described. On the ground of this phenomenon main working principles of a device, which measures vibrations of turbine engine rotor blades with application of the noninterfering discrete method (MDPh), used for early detection of first stage compressor blade cracks are discussed. Typical representation of the first stage compressor blades vibration during engine acceleration, representation of the first stage blades vibration during engine acceleration and deceleration with steady-state stator distortions, crack initiation and propagation symptoms in blades, comparison of blade vibration spectra of the same blades for different conditions are presented in the paper.