Methods of counting aircraft turbine engines operating cycles

The issue of low-cycle fatigue is very important in terms of operational safety of aircraft turbine engines. This paper discusses methods, which are used in US aviation industry to determine boundary cycle counts, as well as methods of counting turbine engine operating cycles allowing to determine the residual safe operation time (hard time), expressed in cycles. Methods are discussed, which are used for both older types of engines as well as for present-day ones. In the paper titled „Zmęczenie niskocyklowe konstrukcji i jego minimalizacja” (Low-cycle structural fatigue and its minimization), published in volume no. 199/2009 of Prace Instytutu Lotnictwa (Proceedings of the Institute of Aviation) contains a schematic presentation of loads acting on components in the „hot section” of an aircraft turbine engine, as well as loads’ operational dependencies on engines’ operating conditions and operating ranges affecting their lowcycle structural fatigue. The paper pointed out that findings related to this type of loads had caused engine safe operation times to be expressed both in hours as well as in cycles. Methods for determining the number of cycles „utilized” by main engine modules and their important parts affecting operational safety, as well as maximum limits of operational cycle which if exceeded should require replacement of respective modules or individual parts had been imposed on operators by engine manufacturers. They are initially determined basing on fatigue tests performed on standard specimens of structural material and then based on fatigue tests of production parts and tests of complete engines. This paper is a further development of these previously discussed topics.

Zagadnienie zmęczenia niskocyklowego jest bardzo istotne z punktu widzenia bezpieczeństwa eksploatacji lotniczych silników turbinowych. W artykule przedstawiono sposoby wyznaczania granicznej liczby cykli stosowane w lotnictwie USA, a także metody zliczania cykli pracy silnika turbinowego w celu określenia pozostałości czasu jego bezpiecznej eksploatacji (resursu) wyrażonego w cyklach. Opisano metody wykorzystywane podczas użytkowania zarówno silników starszych typów, jak i współczesnych.