Intelligent Life-Extending Controls for Aircraft Engines

Aircraft engine controllers are designed and operated to provide desired performance and stability margins. The purpose of life-extending-control (LEC) is to study the relationship between control action and engine component life usage, and to design an intelligent control algorithm to provide proper trade-offs between performance and engine life usage. The benefit of this approach is that it is expected to maintain safety while minimizing the overall operating costs. With the advances of computer technology, engine operation models, and damage physics, it is necessary to reevaluate the control strategy fro overall operating cost consideration. This paper uses the thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) of a critical component to demonstrate how an intelligent engine control algorithm can drastically reduce the engine life usage with minimum sacrifice in performance. A Monte Carlo simulation is also performed to evaluate the likely engine damage accumulation under various operating conditions. The simulation results show that an optimized acceleration schedule can provide a significant life saving in selected engine components.