Retirement for Cause as an Alternate Means of Managing Component Lives

In the current budgetary environment, fielded equipment is often used beyond its design life. To avoid the large cost of replacing critical rotating parts as they reach their "safelife" limits, a Retirement For Cause (RFC) program may prove to be a cost-effective, yet safe, alternative. Studies indicate that a full 80 percent of parts replaced at low-cycle fatigue calculated "safe life" limits have at least a full order of magnitude of remaining fatigue life. The Air Force has embraced RFC and currently uses it successfully to manage parts life for several of their gas turbine engines.