ANSYS Case Studies Implementing Real-Time Stress and Life Analysis in Aerospace Industry: A Case Study of Peregrine Consulting, Inc.

	Implementing Real-Time Stress and Life Analysis in Aerospace Industry: A Case Study of Peregrine Consulting, Inc. ANSYS

Implementing Real-Time Stress and Life Analysis in Aerospace Industry: A Case Study of Peregrine Consulting, Inc.

ANSYS

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Sensors - Flow Meters
Applicable Industries	Aerospace
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Inventory Management Structural Health Monitoring
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Peregrine Consulting, Inc. was tasked by the U.S. Air Force to investigate the feasibility of performing real-time stress and life analysis of jet aircraft engine turbine components based on as-flown conditions. This approach, known as condition-based maintenance (CBM), aimed to provide a reliable prediction of remaining component life for individual aircraft engines by analyzing as-manufactured information and measurable data from each flight. The challenge was to manage a vast amount of information, including the ongoing condition of engine parts, key data on aircraft performance, engine parameters for each flight, and analysis results. The analysis models were extremely large, with millions of degrees-of-freedom requiring lengthy solution times. Furthermore, the simulation involved numerous complex, multi-attribute effects such as frictional contact, stress stiffening, and large deflections of parts. Read More
About Customer	Peregrine Consulting, Inc. is a company that provides design and analysis consulting services for the aerospace industry. Their expertise lies in areas such as turbine engine development, unmanned aerial vehicle design, engine systems integration, and fatigue life studies. In a major project, they were engaged by the U.S. Air Force to investigate the feasibility of performing real-time stress and life analysis of jet aircraft engine turbine components based on as-flown conditions. The goal was to develop a condition-based maintenance (CBM) approach that would provide a reliable prediction of remaining component life for individual aircraft engines by analyzing as-manufactured information and measurable data from each flight. Read More
Solution	The challenges were addressed through the use of ANSYS Mechanical in combination with the TFLAMES data processing and process management program developed by Peregrine Consulting. TFLAMES screened and converted suitable data for ANSYS, which performed the required frictional-contact rotor assembly stress and thermal analysis. A key feature in the project was the Distributed ANSYS capability to run solutions efficiently in parallel across multiple CPUs. Significant speed-up was gained with the entire solution running in parallel including stiffness matrix generation, linear equation solving, and results calculations. Solutions were run on i*hydra high-performance multi-processor servers designed by a Peregrine Consulting spin-off company to run ANSYS solutions of this magnitude efficiently. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Sensors - Flow Meters

Applicable Industries

Aerospace

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Structural Health Monitoring

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Peregrine Consulting, Inc. was tasked by the U.S. Air Force to investigate the feasibility of performing real-time stress and life analysis of jet aircraft engine turbine components based on as-flown conditions. This approach, known as condition-based maintenance (CBM), aimed to provide a reliable prediction of remaining component life for individual aircraft engines by analyzing as-manufactured information and measurable data from each flight. The challenge was to manage a vast amount of information, including the ongoing condition of engine parts, key data on aircraft performance, engine parameters for each flight, and analysis results. The analysis models were extremely large, with millions of degrees-of-freedom requiring lengthy solution times. Furthermore, the simulation involved numerous complex, multi-attribute effects such as frictional contact, stress stiffening, and large deflections of parts.

About Customer

Peregrine Consulting, Inc. is a company that provides design and analysis consulting services for the aerospace industry. Their expertise lies in areas such as turbine engine development, unmanned aerial vehicle design, engine systems integration, and fatigue life studies. In a major project, they were engaged by the U.S. Air Force to investigate the feasibility of performing real-time stress and life analysis of jet aircraft engine turbine components based on as-flown conditions. The goal was to develop a condition-based maintenance (CBM) approach that would provide a reliable prediction of remaining component life for individual aircraft engines by analyzing as-manufactured information and measurable data from each flight.

Solution

The challenges were addressed through the use of ANSYS Mechanical in combination with the TFLAMES data processing and process management program developed by Peregrine Consulting. TFLAMES screened and converted suitable data for ANSYS, which performed the required frictional-contact rotor assembly stress and thermal analysis. A key feature in the project was the Distributed ANSYS capability to run solutions efficiently in parallel across multiple CPUs. Significant speed-up was gained with the entire solution running in parallel including stiffness matrix generation, linear equation solving, and results calculations. Solutions were run on i*hydra high-performance multi-processor servers designed by a Peregrine Consulting spin-off company to run ANSYS solutions of this magnitude efficiently.

Impact #1	The implementation of ANSYS Mechanical and TFLAMES data processing and process management program led to a major advancement in life assessment technology. It enabled a practical method for reliably predicting fatigue life of components soon after aircraft flights. This has the potential to schedule appropriate maintenance to avoid costly damage from field failures. The solution also allowed for the realistic reduction of overly large safety factors typically applied in calculating the expected life of critical components. This approach holds the potential to significantly lower lifecycle costs by scheduling maintenance before costly engine damage occurs from component field failures.

Impact #1

The implementation of ANSYS Mechanical and TFLAMES data processing and process management program led to a major advancement in life assessment technology. It enabled a practical method for reliably predicting fatigue life of components soon after aircraft flights. This has the potential to schedule appropriate maintenance to avoid costly damage from field failures. The solution also allowed for the realistic reduction of overly large safety factors typically applied in calculating the expected life of critical components. This approach holds the potential to significantly lower lifecycle costs by scheduling maintenance before costly engine damage occurs from component field failures.

Benefit #1	Significant speed-up was achieved with the entire solution running in parallel across multiple CPUs.
Benefit #2	The lifecycle management system was able to run full rotor pseudotransient analyses for aircraft engine parts in a period of time measured in hours rather than weeks.

Benefit #1

Significant speed-up was achieved with the entire solution running in parallel across multiple CPUs.

Benefit #2

The lifecycle management system was able to run full rotor pseudotransient analyses for aircraft engine parts in a period of time measured in hours rather than weeks.

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Overview

Implementing Real-Time Stress and Life Analysis in Aerospace Industry: A Case Study of Peregrine Consulting, Inc.

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit