This report presents statistical information relating to the number of gas turbine engine rotor failures which occurred in commercial aviation service use. The predominant failure involved blade fragments, 82.4 percent of which were contained. Although fewer rotor rim, disk, and seal failures occurred, 33.3%, 100% and 50% respectively were uncontained. Sixty-five percent of the 166 rotor failures occurred during the takeoff and climb stages of flight

Delucia, R. A.

Salvino, J. T.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

NAVAL AIR PROPIJSIOSN CENTBI
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 08628
N:\PC-PE-23
N,-SA-CR- 165388
RCT-OR FRAGMENT PROTECTION PROGRA!M: STATISTICS ON AIRCRAFT
C7F TURBINE E1,INE ROTOR FAILURES THAT OCCURRED IN U. S.
COMMERCIAL AVIATION DURING 1978
By R. A. DELUCIA & J. T. SALVINO
(Cr
APPROV':D FOR PUBLIC
R'LEAS7,': DISTRIBt-rION
L84
:••' 82 04 23 079
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19820019440 2020-03-21T07:17:00+00:00Z
SUNCT•%•q63,'t~n
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION Of TH4IS 11!ASR f(tise Darts SMntova_________________REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE READ INSTRUCTIONS
BEFORE COMPLETING FORM
I. REPORT NUMBER 12. GOVT ACCESS|ON NO. 3. RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NUMBER
4. TITLE (and Subtitle) 5. TYPE OF RE-O.T & PERIOD COVERED
ROTOR FRAGMENT PROTECTION PROGRAM: STATISTICS ON Final Report, 1377 - 1978
AIRCRAFT GAS TURBINE ENGINE ROTOR FAILURES THAT 6, PERFORMING ORG. REPORT It.,,AER
OCCURRED IN U. S. COMMERCIAL AVIATION DURING 1978 NAPC-PE-23
7. AUTHOR(#) 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMSER(a)
R. A. DeLucia and J. T. Salvino NASA DPR C-41581-B, Mod. 10
9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT. TASK
Commanding Officer AREA & WORK UNIT NUMBERS
Naval Air Propulsion Center (PE42)
Trenton, New Jersey 08628 None
I1. COPTROLLING O)FFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12. REPORT DATENational Aeronautics and Space Administration September 1981
Lewis Research Center 13. NUMBER OF PAGES
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
14. MONITO•ING AGENCY NAME & ADDRESS(I! dltrent from Control ln office) 15. SECURITY CLASS. (of thi, r"pott,
"- UNCLASSIFIEJL
1Sa. DECLASSIFICATION/DOWN5GRDIN
"" ~SCHEDUJLE
6I. DISTRINUTlON STATEMENT (of this Report)
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE: DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED
17. DISTRISUTION STATEMENT (o1 the abat,act entered In Block 20, If different from Repo")
13. SUP•.EMNTARY NOTES
"Structures and Mechanical Technologies Division, Lewis Research Center,
Cleveland, Ohio 44135, Advisor, C. C. Chamis
Other report designation: NASA-CR-165388."
it. KeyRO (Contmeo an mm"a tide It necs~awy sW dm Ids?~~,b lack nsbm)
Air Transportation
Aircraft Hazards
Aircraft Safety
SGas Turbine Engine Rotor Failures
This report presents statistical information relating to the number of gas
turbine engine rotor failures which occurred-drq-19-4e in commercial
aviation service use. The predoeainant failure involved blade fragments, b2 .4
percent of which were contained. Although fewer rotor rim, disk and seal
failures occurred, 33.3%, 100% and 50% respectively were uncontained. Sixty-
five percent of the 166 rotor failures occurred during the takeoff and climb
stages of flight./A
5W i 1473 014t6*1 NOUNClILASSIFIED
- , . secuRITy CLAsmIPIC~om 0P11' THI PA0E (Whent Data £rtentod)
A
[,
NAVAL AIR PROPULSION CENTER
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 08628
PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY AND PROJECT ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
NAPC-PE-23
NASA-CR-
ROTOR FRAGMENT PROTECTION PROGRAM: STATISTICS ON AIRCRAFT
GAS TURBINE ENGINE ROTOR FAILURES THAT OCCURRED IN U. S.
COMMERCIAL AVIATION DURING 1978
Prepared by:
it.zf A.DLU
Approved by: ,_ _.
T. E. ELSASSER
APPROV-ED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE:
DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED
AUTHORIZATION: NASA DPR C-41581-B, MOD. 10
b
K14
44
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Flight Standards National Field Office, Federal Aviation
Administration, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for their cooperative effort in
providing the basic data used for this report.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE -- DD Form 1473
T7'.,(i•L PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ii
LIST OF FIGURES iii
INTRODUCTION
1-3
RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS 3
•- • 
4-10
Ficiires 1 through 7
APPENDIX A 
A-1 to A-13
• ! Inside rear cov*~r
DISTRIBUTION 
LIST
mt. I
NAPC-PE-23
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. Title Page
1 Incidence of Rotor Failure in U. S. Commercial 4
Aviation - 1978
2 Component and Fragment Type Distribution for 5
Contained and Uncontained Rotor Failures - 1978
3 The Incidence of Rotor Failure in U. S. 6
Commercial Aviation According to Engine Type
Affected - 1978
4 Rotor Failure Cause Categories - 1978 7
5 Flight Condition at Rotor Failure - 1978 8
6 Uncontained Rotor Failure Distributions 9
According to Cause and Flight Condition -
1976 - 1978
7 The Incidence of Uncontained Rotor Failure in 10
U. S. Commercial Aviation - 1962 - 1978
4i
L! I_ __
NAPC-PE--23
INTRODUCTION
This report has been prepared as part of the Rotor Fragment Protection
Program (RFPP), which is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) 1 and conducted by the Naval Air Propulsion Center (NAPC).
The objective of the RFPP is to develop criteria for the design of devices that
will be used on aircraft to protect occupants and the aircraft structure from
the potentially lethal and devastating fragments that are generated by gas
turbine engine rotor failures.
Presented in this report are statistics on gas turbine rotor failures that
have occurred in U. S. commercial aviation during ]978. These statistics are
based on data compiled from the Flight Standards Service Difficulty Reports
(SDRs) that were published by the Department of Transportation, Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). The compiled data were analyzed to establish.
1. The incidence of rotor failures and the incidence of contained
and uncontained 2 rotor fragments.
2. The distribution of rotor failures with respect to engine rotor
component; i.e., fan, compressor or turbine rotors and their rotating
attachments or appendages such as spacers and seals.
3. The type of rotor fragment (disk, rim or blade) typically
generated at failure.
4. The cause of failure.
5. The type of engines involved.
6. The flight condition at the time of failure.
RESULTS
1. The data used for analysis are contained in APPNDIX A. The results of
these analyses are shown in Figures 1 through 7.
bya. Figure 1 shows that 166 rotor failures occurred in 1978. These rotor
failures accounted for approximately 8.4% of the 1971 shutdowns experienced
by the gas turbine powered U. S. commercial aircraft fleet during 1978.
NASA DPR C-41581-B, Mod. 8.
An uncontained rotor failure is defined as a rotor failure that produces
fragments which penetrate and escape the confines of the engine casing.
3
I I
NAPC-PE-23
Rotor fragments were generated in 125 of the failures experienced and, of these,
19 (15.2% cf the fragment producing failures) were uncontained. This represents
an uncontained failure rate of 3.6 per million gas turbine engine powered
aircraft flight hours, or 1.1 per million engine operation hours. Approximately
6.8 million and 21.4 million aircraft flight and engine operating hours,
respectively, were logged by the U. S. commercial. aviation fleet in 1978.
b. Figure 2 shows the distribution of rotor failures that produced
fragments according to the engine component involved -- fan, compressor,
turbine; the types of fragments that were generated; and the percentage of.
uncontained failures according to the type fragment generated. These data
indicate that:
(1) The incidence of turbine rotor fragment producing failures was
approximately two times greater than that of compressor rotor fragment
producing failures; these corresponded to 60% and 34.4%, respectively, of the
total number of rotor failures. Fan rotor failures accounted for 5.6% cf the
fragment producing failures experienced.
(2) Blade fragments were generated in 95.2% of the rotor failures;
13.4% of these were uncontained. The remaining rotor fragments failures (4.8%)
produced disk, rim and seal fragments, of which 100%, 33.3% aid 50%, respectively
were uncontained.
c. Figure 3 shows the rotor failure distribution among the types of engines,
that were affected, and the total number of that type engine in use.
d. Figure 4 shows what caused the rotor failures to occur. Of the known
causes of failure(1), the dominant causal factors were: (1) Secondary Causes
(44.2%); (2) Foreign object Damage (FOD) (31.7%), and (3) Design and Life
Prediction Problems (19.2%).
e. Figure 5 indicates the flight conditions that existed when the various
rotor failures occurred. Approximately 65% of the 166 rotor failures occurred
during the takeoff and climb stages of flight. Approximately 68% of the rotor
fragment producing failures, and 79% of the uncontained rotor fai-lures, occurred
during these same stages of flight. The highest percentage of uncontained rotor
failures (53%) were experienced during takeoff.
f. Figure 6 is a cumulative tabulation that describes the distribution of
uncontained rotor failures according to fragment type, engine component
involved, cause categorj and flight condition(2)for the years 1976, 1977 and 1-78.
This figure will be. expanded yearly to include all subsequent uncontained roto-r
* * failures. These data indicate that: for "design and life prediction problems"
(1 )Because of the high percentage of unknown causes of rotor failure, the
percentages were based on the total number of known causes.
(2 )Takeoff and climb are defined as "High Power", all other conditions are
(I defined as "Low Power".
2
NAPC-PE-23
the numbers of uncontained failures were two times greater at "high" power than
"low" power (namely 10 and 5); but for all other causes, the prevailing
condition was "high power". Additional conclusions should become evident from
this table with lie accumulation of future data.
g. ? •rste 7 shows the annual incidence of uncontained rotor failures in
comnercia± Aviation for the years 1962 and 1978. During 1978, the incidence
or uncontained rotor failure increased by four over the previous year, 1977.
Over the past five years, 1974 through 1978, an average of 16.2 uncontained
rotor failures per year have occurred. During this same time period, the
rate of uncontained rotor failures has remained relatively constant at an
average of approximately one per million engine operating hours.
CONCLUSIONS
1. -ha incidence of iotor failure and uncontained failure is significantly
,g r .'h to -krrant continuation of the experimental and analytical efforts
n. r-. ,.i .•tute thL RFPP.
2. - all types of fragments generated at rotor failure, disks and fan bladefragments, because of their size and high energy content, continue to be the
threat that must be addres.ed in the RFPP.
3. It appears that causes such as FOD, structural life and integrity
prediction, and secondary effects, are primarily responsible for most of the
rotor failures that occur. Progress in the ability to predict structural life
is being made through numerous programE sponsored both by Government agencies
aad by industry. The capability to reduce the causes of failures from secondary
effects, such as bearing or seal failures, also is being addressed through
technological programs. However, causes due to FOD still appear to be beyond
the control or scope of present technology.
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Data on Rotor Failures in U. S. ComMercial Aviation
for 1978. Compiled from the Federal Aviation
Administration Service Difficulty Reports.
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NAPC-PE-23
A
DATA COMPILATION KEY:
Component Code:
F - Fan
C - Compressor
T - Turbine
Fragment Type Code:
D - Disk
R -Rim
B - Blade
S -Seal
N - None
Cause Code:
1 - Design and Life Prediction Problems
2 - Secondary Causes
3 - Foreign Object Damage
4 - Quality Control
5 - operational
6 - Assembly and Inspection Error
7 - Unknown
Containflt Condition Code:
c - Contained
NC - Not Contained
N - No Fragments Generated
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1 - Insp/Maint1 .2 
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3 - TakeoffYI
4 - Climb
5 - Cruise
6 - Descent
7 -Approach
8 Landing
9 Hovering
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Activity
Commander, Naval Air Systems Command (AIR-50174), Department 9
of the Navy, Washington, DC
Intra-command Addresses: I
AIR-330A (1) AIR-5361 (1)
AIR-530 (1) AIR-5362 (1)
AIR-536 (1) MAT-03L ( 1)
I AIR-5360 (1) AIR-330• (1) i•j
Commander, Naval )',.r Development Center, Warminster, .PA- 18974 1
} .! Commanding Officer, Naval Air Engineering Center, 1 -
Lakehurst, NJ 08733
Commanding Officer, Naval Aviation Safety Center, 1 -
Naval Air Station, Norfolk, VA 23511
Director, Applied Technology Laboratory, Army Research and 1
Technology Laboratories, Ft. Eustis, VA. 23604
Commanding General, U. S. Army'Aviation Systems Conmand 1 .1
(&'ISAV-ERP), 12th and Spruce Streets, St. Louis, MO 63166
Commander, Air Force Aero-Propulsion Laboratory (AFSC), 1
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433
Matio'ial Aeronautics and Space Administration, Att: R. H. Johns, 12
MS 49-3, Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road,
Cleveland, OH 44135
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (RF, RO(2), RLC), 4
Washington, DC 20546
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Information,• Building .No. 5, Cameron Station, Alexandria, VA 12
Aeroelastic Laboratory, MassachUsetts Institute of Technology,. .-
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U M.£2
-- A -- -g-


Rotor fragment protection program: Statistics on aircraft gas turbine ngine rotor failures that occurred in U.S. commercial aviation during 1978

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