Propulsion health monitoring assessed by microwave sensor performance and blade tip timing

Ali Abdul-Aziz; Mark R. Woike; Robert C. Anderson; Khaled Aboumerhis

doi:10.1117/12.2515450

20 March 2019 Propulsion health monitoring assessed by microwave sensor performance and blade tip timing

Ali Abdul-Aziz, Mark R. Woike, Robert C. Anderson, Khaled Aboumerhis

Proceedings Volume 10973, Smart Structures and NDE for Energy Systems and Industry 4.0; 109730Q (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2515450
Event: SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation, 2019, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Gas turbine engine makers are always striving to implement newer technologies to help monitor the engine health and performance. Among these technologies is the employment of highly specialized sensors within the engine compartment. The sensors are to screen response of components such as rotor disk blades which are subjects to complex loading conditions and that includes combined thermal and mechanical loads. Detecting unexpected or excessive blade Vibration before failure is critical to ensure safety and to achieve expected apparatus life. Traditional detection methods have relied solely on component inspection during service or on the use of gage telemetry systems as well as other means of non-destructive evaluation. These methods require time and cost and do not provided an accurate feedback of the health when the engine is in operation. At NASA Glenn Research Center, an effort is underway to develop and test validate microwave based blade tip timing sensors in support of the latter concerns and for the purpose of investigating their application for propulsion health monitoring under the Transformational Tools and Technologies Project. This process involves working with prototype sensors to determine their applicability and assess their ability in making blade tip clearance measurements along with further refining a methodology required to extract deflection measurements from the raw data acquired from the sensors. The efforts focus specifically on the use and implementation of microwave based tip-timing sensors that are intended to be used for non-contact stress measurement application. The work includes an experimental task to define the optimum set-up of these sensors, determine their sensitivity in making blade tip deflection measurements and validate their performance against realistic geometries in a spin rig. This also includes analytical calculations to compare to the experimental results. Data pertaining to the findings obtained from the testing as well as the supportive analytical results are presented and discussed.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Ali Abdul-Aziz, Mark R. Woike, Robert C. Anderson, and Khaled Aboumerhis "Propulsion health monitoring assessed by microwave sensor performance and blade tip timing", Proc. SPIE 10973, Smart Structures and NDE for Energy Systems and Industry 4.0, 109730Q (20 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2515450

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available