Life extending control of gas turbine engines

This paper presents a concept of life extending control for application to air-breathing gas turbine engines in continuation of similar work, reported earlier, on bipropellant rocket engines. As an example, a life extending control policy is formulated for reduction of stresses at the root of the fan and compressor blades with the primary modes of damage being fatigue cracks. An outline of the overall damage mitigating system is described, showing the interaction between the structural models, damage models, and the controller. As a preliminary proof-of-concept, a test case is presented where the stress profile and the rate of stresses are considered as indicators of structural damage in the fan and compressor blades