An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head
Authorized Users Only
2013
Authors
Krstić, BranimirRašuo, Boško
Trifković, Dragan
Radisavljević, Igor
Rajić, Zoran
Dinulović, Mirko
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Cylinder head (CH) failures in aircraft piston engine may have serious or fatal consequences to the safety of the crew and the aircraft. Moreover, when failure becomes undoubtedly repetitive and critical resulting in loss of aircraft, destruction of properties, and first and foremost loss of human lives, the cause of the failure requires to be investigated using a scientific approach. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate and identify the root cause of a repetitive premature failure in an aircraft engine CH. The piston engine of the training aircraft Utva-75 has malfunctioned during the flight due to the cracking of its aluminum cast CH. It has been the second engine failure of this type of aircraft due to the cracking in the CH in a very short span of time. From the visual examination of the mating fracture surfaces, it has been possible to observe typical beach and ratchet marks indicating the occurrence of fatigue failure. The crack has initiated from multiple origins l...ocated on the inner flange fillet on the exhaust side of the CH. Further examinations by using scanning electron microscopy as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy and metallography have shown that the fatigue had promoted from pre-existing material defect due to a high concentration of shrinkage pores at the initiation crack site and can be most likely associated with the manufacturing process of casting. The stress analysis of the cylinder assembly, carried out by means of finite element analysis, has also confirmed that the crack origin was located at the most stressed area of the cylinder assembly i.e. on the inner flange fillet of the exhaust side of the CH. This case study, together with the other recently reported, has definitely confirmed the repetitive and therefore systematic problems with the CH of air cooled, horizontally opposed, aircraft piston engines.
Keywords:
Finite element analysis / Fatigue failure / Failure analysis / Cylinder head / AircraftSource:
Engineering Failure Analysis, 2013, 34, 335-349Publisher:
- Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford
Funding / projects:
- University of Defence in Belgrade [VA-TT/02/13-15]
DOI: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013
ISSN: 1350-6307
WoS: 000329080800032
Scopus: 2-s2.0-84884574918
Collections
Institution/Community
Mašinski fakultetTY - JOUR AU - Krstić, Branimir AU - Rašuo, Boško AU - Trifković, Dragan AU - Radisavljević, Igor AU - Rajić, Zoran AU - Dinulović, Mirko PY - 2013 UR - https://machinery.mas.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1685 AB - Cylinder head (CH) failures in aircraft piston engine may have serious or fatal consequences to the safety of the crew and the aircraft. Moreover, when failure becomes undoubtedly repetitive and critical resulting in loss of aircraft, destruction of properties, and first and foremost loss of human lives, the cause of the failure requires to be investigated using a scientific approach. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate and identify the root cause of a repetitive premature failure in an aircraft engine CH. The piston engine of the training aircraft Utva-75 has malfunctioned during the flight due to the cracking of its aluminum cast CH. It has been the second engine failure of this type of aircraft due to the cracking in the CH in a very short span of time. From the visual examination of the mating fracture surfaces, it has been possible to observe typical beach and ratchet marks indicating the occurrence of fatigue failure. The crack has initiated from multiple origins located on the inner flange fillet on the exhaust side of the CH. Further examinations by using scanning electron microscopy as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy and metallography have shown that the fatigue had promoted from pre-existing material defect due to a high concentration of shrinkage pores at the initiation crack site and can be most likely associated with the manufacturing process of casting. The stress analysis of the cylinder assembly, carried out by means of finite element analysis, has also confirmed that the crack origin was located at the most stressed area of the cylinder assembly i.e. on the inner flange fillet of the exhaust side of the CH. This case study, together with the other recently reported, has definitely confirmed the repetitive and therefore systematic problems with the CH of air cooled, horizontally opposed, aircraft piston engines. PB - Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford T2 - Engineering Failure Analysis T1 - An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head EP - 349 SP - 335 VL - 34 DO - 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013 ER -
@article{ author = "Krstić, Branimir and Rašuo, Boško and Trifković, Dragan and Radisavljević, Igor and Rajić, Zoran and Dinulović, Mirko", year = "2013", abstract = "Cylinder head (CH) failures in aircraft piston engine may have serious or fatal consequences to the safety of the crew and the aircraft. Moreover, when failure becomes undoubtedly repetitive and critical resulting in loss of aircraft, destruction of properties, and first and foremost loss of human lives, the cause of the failure requires to be investigated using a scientific approach. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate and identify the root cause of a repetitive premature failure in an aircraft engine CH. The piston engine of the training aircraft Utva-75 has malfunctioned during the flight due to the cracking of its aluminum cast CH. It has been the second engine failure of this type of aircraft due to the cracking in the CH in a very short span of time. From the visual examination of the mating fracture surfaces, it has been possible to observe typical beach and ratchet marks indicating the occurrence of fatigue failure. The crack has initiated from multiple origins located on the inner flange fillet on the exhaust side of the CH. Further examinations by using scanning electron microscopy as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy and metallography have shown that the fatigue had promoted from pre-existing material defect due to a high concentration of shrinkage pores at the initiation crack site and can be most likely associated with the manufacturing process of casting. The stress analysis of the cylinder assembly, carried out by means of finite element analysis, has also confirmed that the crack origin was located at the most stressed area of the cylinder assembly i.e. on the inner flange fillet of the exhaust side of the CH. This case study, together with the other recently reported, has definitely confirmed the repetitive and therefore systematic problems with the CH of air cooled, horizontally opposed, aircraft piston engines.", publisher = "Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford", journal = "Engineering Failure Analysis", title = "An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head", pages = "349-335", volume = "34", doi = "10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013" }
Krstić, B., Rašuo, B., Trifković, D., Radisavljević, I., Rajić, Z.,& Dinulović, M.. (2013). An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head. in Engineering Failure Analysis Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford., 34, 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013
Krstić B, Rašuo B, Trifković D, Radisavljević I, Rajić Z, Dinulović M. An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head. in Engineering Failure Analysis. 2013;34:335-349. doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013 .
Krstić, Branimir, Rašuo, Boško, Trifković, Dragan, Radisavljević, Igor, Rajić, Zoran, Dinulović, Mirko, "An investigation of the repetitive failure in an aircraft engine cylinder head" in Engineering Failure Analysis, 34 (2013):335-349, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.08.013 . .