Engine health monitoring: Towards total prognostics

As advanced aircraft gas turbines are developed with increased performance and service life, emphasis is placed upon engine health monitoring (EHM) to reduce direct costs such as hardware, labour, fuel and logistics. The ultimate goal for EHM has been set by the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) program for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. The vision is a combined monitoring system that will enable the aircraft to report its own engine problems, thereby minimising operational and support costs. This is a highly advanced concept, which necessitates significant evolution from the current state of the art. As the first step towards total engine prognostics, a suite of EHM systems has been identified for monitoring the different aspects of the engine's health. These include new and emerging technologies, which are essential if a full picture of the engine's condition is to be determined. The suitability and maturity of the EHM systems are to be proved by means of two seeded fault engine tests (SFET), funded by the JSF development program. This paper details three emerging technologies selected for the JSF SFET program. The EHM systems described offer potential monitoring capabilities that are not easily achievable with existing technology. The key functionality of each system is described together with a review of its performance during the first SFET.