The use of phased-array ultrasonic instruments and probes allows for optimization of both the sensitivity and resolution for detection of different defect types through electronic beamforming, scanning, and focusing processes. However, development of these inspection processes requires an extensive database of material specimens containing known defects. Through the collaboration of the aerospa...

Abstract Turbofan engine is a key component in aerospace. Its health condition determines whether an aircraft can operate reliably. However, it difficult to predict the remaining useful life (RUL) precisely because of characteristics complex operating conditions and various failure modes. To RUL more accurately make full use advantages neural networks, prediction model based on long short-term ...

While NASA’s current next-generation launch vehicle research has largely focused on advanced allrocket single-stage-to-orbit vehicles (i.e. the X-33 and it’s RLV operational follow-on), some attention is being given to advanced propulsion concepts suitable for “next-generation-and-a-half” vehicles. Rocketbased combined-cycle (RBCC) engines combining rocket and airbreathing elements are one cand...

The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), under contract by the US Air Force, has designed and constructed a fully automated ultrasonic inspection system for the detection of embedded defects in rotating gas turbine engine components. The automated inspection system, designed and developed under the Turbine Engine Sustainment Initiative (TESI), makes use of phased array ultrasonic tec...

A technique to analyze particulates extracted from inline jet engine oil filters using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) is presented. This technique, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Oil Analysis Technical Support Center (JOAP-TSC), is termed filter debris analysis (FDA). Six beta prototype instruments capable of performing FDA-EDXRF in an automated mode were manu...

The Electronic Return-less Fuel System (ERFS) manages the delivery of fuel from the fuel tank to the engine. The pressure in the fuel line is electronically controlled by the fuel system control module by speeding up or slowing down the fuel pump. This allows the system to efficiently control the amount of fuel provided to the engine when compared to vehicles equipped with a standard fuel syste...

This paper reports on the development of a prototype wireless sensor network for thermal monitoring of aircraft gas turbine engines. The prototype acts as a concept demonstrator for the application at hand. Building upon the state of the art in the domain, the authors pursued a rapid prototyping approach, supported by a prototyping framework: FieldMAP. As a key property, the framework enables t...

This paper presents the development of an ontology for component service degradation. In this paper, degradation mechanisms in gas turbine metallic components are used for a case study to explain how a taxonomy within an ontology can be validated. The validation method used in this paper uses an iterative process and sanity checks. Data extracted from on-demand textual information are filtered ...