PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Max motoring or min N3 / N2 for fuel on at start ?
Old 24th May 2008, 00:09
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SNS3Guppy
 
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So any further damage to the combustor will only be exposed in the overhaul shop, on a scheduled visit.
Or a borescope inspection when looking for other damage. It may also show up as an early requirement for a blade or inlet guide vane replacement, as do streaking nozzles.

Basically all of the engines that I deal with - Trent, RB211, PW4000, JT9, CFM, V2500, GE90 etc are not driven off for combustor damage, since the designs/modifications make them so much more robust in the combustor area. In fact the only engine I ever removed for combustor damage was at least 6 years ago.
There's a two-fold impetus for this: one is that the powerplants are being operated by professional crews who are probably running them to max motoring speed, and the other is that the combustor is seldom looked at until other aspects of the engine demand attention, or until a combustor blockage or failure leads to other component irregularities.

Additionally, most of those powerplant installations are FADEC controlled with smart regulation to prevent many anomolies from becoming issues that demand demating or splitting the components.

They're not more robust in the combustor so much as they are simply not failing. This isn't the result of a significant increase in thickness or strength, but the design of the combustor itself, it's cooling properties, the improved bleeds, etc, which improve better airflow at lower RPM's.

A significant different exists in the way overhaul and repair periods are arranged with most business airplanes and their smaller turbines, vs. those on larger transport category airline equipment. Whereas many smaller powerplants such as the TFE-731 have overhaul intervals in the 3,500 hour to 6,000 hour range, with hot section inspections at mid time, airline equipment tends to go much longer with scheduled maintenance and inspections done on the wing. In business aircraft, generally the powerplant is removed and a loaner hung while the work is done. The busines aircraft does ten years or more before coming close to the inspection, and sees more frequent cycles than an accumulation of hours in many cases. The Airline aircraft, particularly those used on longer routes, sees many times the number of hours in a much shorter time, with generally far fewer cyles per hour.
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