Optimization of Continuous Airworthiness Problems

Recently aviation accident data shows that many fatal accidents in aviation are due to airworthiness issues despite the fact that all civil and private aircraft are required to comply with the airworthiness standards set by their national airworthiness authority.This paper presents a unique approach to continuous airworthiness problems optimization needed to reduce the risk associated by the gap between aircraft designers&manufacturing organization and continuing airworthiness(state of civil aviation authority and air operators).As a result of the paper summaries these problems and searching of the possible solutions to optimized,these problems are achieved to get more integration between(designers&manufacturing and air operators),finally there is recommendations are drawn to address the safe operation of the aircraft and can be given to the International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO),Federal Aviation Administration(FAA)and European Aviation Safety Agency(EASA)and Civil Aviation Authorities(CAAs)for more integrate between all of them structure.

Optimization of Continuous Airworthiness Problems

Recently aviation accident data shows that many fatal accidents in aviation are due to airworthiness issues despite the fact that all civil and private aircraft are required to comply with the airworthiness standards set by their national airworthiness authority.This paper presents a unique approach to continuous airworthiness problems optimization needed to reduce the risk associated with the gap between aircraft designers&manufacturing organization and continuing airworthiness(state of civil aviation authority and air operators).As a result of the paper summarizes these problems and searching of the possible solutions to be optimized,these problems are achieved to get more integration between(designers&manufacturing and air operators),finally the recommendations are drawn to address the safe operation of the aircraft and can be given to the International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO),Federal Aviation Administration(FAA)and European Aviation Safety Agency(EASA)and Civil Aviation Authorities(CAAs)for more integration between all of them structure.

The Strategy of Widespread Fatigue Damage in FMP System

As is known, widespread fatigue damage （WFD） is a common phenomenon of aging aircraft being a negative impact on safety and reliability. The current FAR 25. 571 （b） requires that ＂An LOV （ Limit of Validi- ty） must be established, during which it is demonstrated that widespread fatigue damage will not occur in the air- craft structures＂. The FAA issued AC 91-82A in August 2011 providing guidance on developing and implemen- ting a Fatigue Management Program （FMP） system to address in-service issues for metallic fatigue critical struc- tures. This action brings new challenges to aircraft manufacturers in China. This paper introduces the problem of widespread fatigue damage including the MSD（ multiple site damage） and MED（ multiple element damage） and the differences between them and the steps to establish the LOV/ELOV（ Extended limit of validity）. Authors in this paper is also proposing some management indicators to control WFD during the design phase and mainte- nance. Developing and implementing the management indicators to address WFD which are involved in the FMP system may provide guidance on the estimation and management to address WFD for present and future aircraft. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to provide the theoretical basis for large civil aircraft design and airwor- thiness.

Discussion on Continuous Airworthiness and Maintenance of Civil Aircraft

With China’s rapid economic development,the civil aviation market’s development area has expanded.On this basis,the state has proposed more extensive and stringent civil aviation rules.Many factors can affect the civil aircraft during the real operation process,and this can have an impact on the aircraft’s regular functioning to some level.To ensure that civil aircraft remain airworthy,appropriate maintenance work must be performed on a regular basis to prevent compromising the aircraft’s safety performance.For the purpose of reference,this paper discusses the continual airworthiness and maintenance of civil aircraft.

Airworthiness Compliance Verification Method Based on Simulation of Complex System

A study is conducted on a new airworthiness compliance verification method based on pilot-aircraft-environment complex system simulation. Verification scenarios are established by ＂block diagram＂ method based on airworthiness criteria. A pi- lot-aircraft-environment complex model is set up and a virtual flight testing method based on connection of MATLAB/Simulink and Flightgear is proposed. Special researches are conducted on the modeling of pilot manipulation stochastic parameters and manipulation in critical situation. Unfavorable flight factors of certain scenario are analyzed, and reliability modeling of impor- tant system is researched. A distribution function of small probability event and the theory on risk probability measurement are studied. Nonlinear function is used to depict the relationship between the cumulative probability and the extremum of the critical parameter. A synthetic evaluation model is set up, modified genetic algorithm （MGA） is applied to ascertaining the distribution parameter in the model, and a more reasonable result is obtained. A clause about vehicle control functions （VCFs） verification in MIL-HDBK-516B is selected as an example to validate the practicability of the method.

Failure Assessment of Aero-engine Support Structure due to Blade-off

Aero-engine blade-off event could cause serious malfunction and endanger flight safety,which is an important issue widely concerned for a long period.This paper presents a comprehensive review on the regulation requirements,the major research methods and status at home and abroad.Firstly,the relevant certification regulations and standards about aero-engine structure safety due to blade-off event were overviewed and the research gaps between the abroad and the domestic were compared.Then,the simulation and experimental methodologies on aero-engine supporting structures undertake abnormal load due to blade-off event were discussed as major issue.Finally,the safety certification verification technology system for aero-engine support structures during blade-off event was proposed.

Stability characteristics and airworthiness requirements of blended wing body aircraft with podded engines

Blended-Wing-Body(BWB)aircraft have a relatively short fuselage and no horizontal tail,and they usually adopt podded engines and a V tail instead of a vertical tail.Generally,BWB aircraft have decreased longitudinal and directional static stability and damping.In this paper,the three-axis static and dynamic stability characteristics of an example BWB aircraft with podded engines are studied.According to the differences in flight characteristics of BWB aircraft and conventional aircraft,the different airworthiness requirements for BWB aircraft are analyzed:first,based on current airworthiness regulations and transport aircraft flying quality specification,the relaxation requirement of longitudinal static stability for BWB aircraft is studied;second,the influences of podded engines on longitudinal trim,attitude and trajectory responses and maximum directional control power requirement of BWB aircraft are analyzed;third,the changes in the proportional relationships between the takeoff characteristic speeds of the example BWB aircraft are analyzed.In view of these variations in directional control power requirement and relationships between takeoff characteristic speeds,new recommendations for airworthiness evaluation are proposed for BWB aircraft.The conclusions of this paper are helpful references for configuration design,flight control law design and airworthiness evaluation of BWB aircraft.

Blade containment evaluation of civil aircraft engines

The potential hazard resulting from uncontained turbine engine rotor blade failure has always been the long-term concern of each aero engine manufacturer, and to fully contain the failed blades under critical operating conditions is also one of the most important considerations to meet the rotor integrity requirements. Usually, there are many factors involving the engine containment capability which need to be reviewed during the engine design phases, such as case thickness, rotor support structure, blade weight and shape, etc. However, the premier method to demonstrate the engine containment capability is the fan blade-off test and margin of safety （MS） analysis. Based on a concrete engine model, this paper aims to explain the key points of aero engine containment requirements in FAR Part 33, and introduces the implementation of MS analysis and fan blade-off test in the engine airworthiness certification. Through the introduction, it would be greatly helpful to the industrial community to evaluate the engine containment capability and prepare the final test demonstration in engine certification procedure.

Sensitivity Analysis for Safety Design Verification of General Aviation Reciprocating Aircraft Engine

This paper presents an application of global sensitivity analysis for system safety analysis of reciprocating aircraft engine. Compared with local sensitivity analysis results, global sensitivity analysis could provide more information on parameter inter- actions, which are significant in complex system safety analysis. First, a deterministic aviation reciprocating engine thermody- namics model is developed and parameters of interest are defined as random variables. Then, samples are generated by Monte Carlo method for the parameters used in engine model on the basis of definition of factor distribution. Eventually, results from engine model are generated and importance indices are calculated. Based on the analysis results, design is improved to satisfy the airworthiness requirements. The results reveal that by using global sensitivity analysis, the parameters could be ranked with respect to their importance, including first order indices and total sensitivity indices. By reducing the uncertainty of parameters and adjusting the range of inputs, safety criteria would be satisfied.

Safety Analysis of Flow Parameters in a Rotor-stator Cavity

In order to ensure the safety of engine life limited parts （ELLP） according to airworthiness regulations, a numerical approach integrating one-way fluid structure interaction （FSI） and probabilistic risk assessment （PRA） is developed, by which the variation of flow parameters in a rotor-stator cavity on the safety of gas turbine disks is investigated. The results indicate that the flow parameters affect the probability of fracture of a gas turbine disk since they can change the distribution of stress and temperature of the disk. The failure probability of the disk rises with increasing rotation Reynolds number and Chebyshev number, but descends with increasing inlet Reynolds number. In addition, a sampling based sensitivity analysis with finite difference method is conducted to determine the sensitivities of the safety with respect to the flow parameters. The sensitivity estimates show that the rotation Reynolds number is the dominant variable in safety analysis of a rotor-stator cavity among the flow parameters.

Time-triggered State-machine Reliable Software Architecture for Micro Turbine Engine Control

Time-triggered （TT） embedded software pattern is well accepted in aerospace industry for its high reliability. Fi-nite-state-machine （FSM） design method is widely used for its high efficiency and predictable behavior. In this paper, the time-triggered and state-machine combination software architecture is implemented for a 25 kg thrust micro turbine engine （MTE） used for unmanned aerial vehicle （UAV） system; also model-based-design development workflow for airworthiness software directive DO-178B is utilized. Experimental results show that time-triggered state-machine software architecture and development method could shorten the system development time, reduce the system test cost and make the turbine engine easily comply with the airworthiness rules.

Numerical simulation of a UAV impacting engine fan blades

A 3D digital model of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)is obtained by using the method of scanning reverse modeling and joint mapping.A numerical simulation of a small UAV strikes on rotary engine blades,presented in this paper,was performed with a Transient Nonlinear Finite Element code PAM-CRASH software.A test of motor strike on plate was developed and the dynamic response of the plate were obtained to validate the numerical simulation method of a UAV strike on blades.Based on this,dynamic damage response caused by UAV on the engine blades were studied.It is indicated that the impact process between the UAV and a single blade can be divided into two typical stages:cutting and impact.Cutting mainly leads to the failure of the leading edge material,and impact mainly leads to the plastic deformation of the blade.At the same time,it is compared with the damage impacted by bird with the same mass.For the same mass of bird and UAV,the damage caused by UAV striking fan blade is more serious,and 1.345 kg UAV striking fan blade of typical civil aviation engine is enough to cause damage to flight safety.