Taxonomy of Gas Turbine Blade Defects

Aust, Jonas; Pons, Dirk J.

doi:10.3390/aerospace6050058

Cited by 41 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This is semantically similar to how type is used in biology and within taxonomies. We adopted the taxonomy of blade defects per [88]. We then examined a large number of damaged blades, categorised per the defect taxonomy.…”

Section: Work Stream 1: Collection Of Specimen Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are twelve different types of defects that can occur on engine compressor blades [88], each with its own characteristics. Some defects are more critical than others, as they can lead to more severe damage and the propagation is much quicker, which means it can cause damage even before the next routine inspection.…”

Section: Defect Class Type-criticality Factormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methodology for Evaluating Risk of Visual Inspection Tasks of Aircraft Engine Blades

Aust

Pons

2021

Aerospace

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Risk assessment methods are widely used in aviation, but have not been demonstrated for visual inspection of aircraft engine components. The complexity in this field arises from the variety of defect types and the different manifestation thereof with each level of disassembly. A new risk framework was designed to include contextual factors. Those factors were identified using Bowtie analysis to be criticality, severity, and detectability. This framework yields a risk metric that describes the extent to which a defect might stay undetected during the inspection task, and result in adverse safety outcomes. A simplification of the framework provides a method for go/no-go decision-making. The results of the study reveal that the defect detectability is highly dependent on specific views of the blade, and the risk can be quantified. Defects that involve material separation or removal such as scratches, tip rub, nicks, tears, cracks, and breaking, are best shown in airfoil views. Defects that involve material deformation and change of shape, such as tip curl, dents on the leading edges, bents, and battered blades, have lower risk if edge views can be provided. This research proposes that many risk assessments may be reduced to three factors: consequence, likelihood, and a cofactor. The latter represents the industrial context, and can comprise multiple sub-factors that are application-specific. A method has been devised, including appropriate scales, for the inclusion of these into the risk assessment.

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Section: Work Stream 1: Collection Of Specimen Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Defect Class Type-criticality Factormentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology for Evaluating Risk of Visual Inspection Tasks of Aircraft Engine Blades

Aust

Pons

2021

Aerospace

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“…The significance of the proposed gripper design is motivated by two industrial (dis)assembly processes. Manufacturing, servicing and maintenance of jet and Diesel engines implies the disassembly of the complete engine, ultrasonic cleaning of individual parts, surface inspection with non-destructive testing methods (e.g., liquid penetrant testing) and final reassembly [20]. The process requires handling of individual parts and small sub-assemblies.…”

Section: B Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Robotic Gripper With Compliant Cell Stacks for Industrial Part Handling

Netzev

Angleraud

Pieters

2020

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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Robot object grasping and handling requires accurate grasp pose estimation and gripper/end-effector design, tailored to individual objects. When object shape is unknown, cannot be estimated, or is highly complex, parallel grippers can provide insufficient grip. Compliant grippers can circumvent these issues through the use of soft or flexible materials that adapt to the shape of the object. This paper proposes a 3D printable soft gripper design for handling complex shapes. The compliant properties of the gripper enable contour conformation, yet offer tunable mechanical properties (i.e., directional stiffness). Objects that have complex shape, such as non-constant curvature, convex and/or concave shape can be grasped blind (i.e., without grasp pose estimation). The motivation behind the gripper design is handling of industrial parts, such as jet and Diesel engine components. (Dis)assembly, cleaning and inspection of such engines is a complex, manual task that can benefit from (semi-)automated robotic handling. The complex shape of each component, however, limits where and how it can be grasped. The proposed soft gripper design is tunable by compliant cell stacks that deform to the shape of the handled object. Individual compliant cells and cell stacks are characterized and a detailed experimental analysis of more than 600 grasps with seven different industrial parts evaluates the approach.

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“…Borescope inspection was chosen as the particular situation under examination, as it is one of the main means of defect detection in aircraft engine maintenance. Defects that stay undetected have the potential to cause severe damage to the engine or aircraft, and result in accidents and fatalities [21]. The reliable assessment of part condition is essential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is called a false positive as it was incorrectly rejected. For example, deposit on an airfoil could be incorrectly identified as pitting or corrosion [21].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bowtie Methodology for Risk Analysis of Visual Borescope Inspection during Aircraft Engine Maintenance

Aust

Pons

2019

Aerospace

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Background—The inspection of aircraft parts is critical, as a defective part has many potentially adverse consequences. Faulty parts can initiate a system failure on an aircraft, which can lead to aircraft mishap if not well managed and has the potential to cause fatalities and serious injuries of passengers and crew. Hence, there is value in better understanding the risks in visual inspection during aircraft maintenance. Purpose—This paper identifies the risks inherent in visual inspection tasks during aircraft engine maintenance and how it differs from aircraft operations. Method—A Bowtie analysis was performed, and potential hazards, threats, consequences, and barriers were identified based on semi-structured interviews with industry experts and researchers’ insights gained by observation of the inspection activities. Findings—The Bowtie diagram for visual inspection in engine maintenance identifies new consequences in the maintenance context. It provides a new understanding of the importance of certain controls in the workflow. Originality—This work adapts the Bowtie analysis to provide a risk assessment of the borescope inspection activity on aircraft maintenance tasks, which was otherwise not shown in the literature. The consequences for maintenance are also different compared to flight operations, in the way operational economics are included.

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Taxonomy of Gas Turbine Blade Defects

Cited by 41 publications

References 36 publications

Methodology for Evaluating Risk of Visual Inspection Tasks of Aircraft Engine Blades

Methodology for Evaluating Risk of Visual Inspection Tasks of Aircraft Engine Blades

Soft Robotic Gripper With Compliant Cell Stacks for Industrial Part Handling

Bowtie Methodology for Risk Analysis of Visual Borescope Inspection during Aircraft Engine Maintenance

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