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Old 18th Sep 2012, 23:23
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barit1
 
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So long as the turbine rotor/stator geometry is designed so that a rotor axial shift creates a clash of airfoils, it's a "fail safe" design. The rotor will never get the chance to accelerate to a dangerous RPM. This is apparently what has happened in the GEnx failures; the low-energy airfoil debris exits through the core nozzle.

However, even this "benign" shrapnel can create a flight hazard - for example, if hydraulic lines are routed within the horizontal stab LE. A thorough FMECA is the answer here.

(FMECA = Failure Modes, Effects, Criticality, Analysis)
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