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 interactions, which are significant in complex system safety analysis. First, a deterministic aviation reciprocating engine thermodynamics 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.