Aero-engine turbine blade life assessment using the Neu/Sehitoglu damage model

•An integrated life assessment method for of aero turbine blades is applied.•The method combines engine performance, turbine blade sizing/heat transfer and FEA.•Using Neu/Sehitoglu TMF model, oxidation effect is the most critical to blade life.•We find the blade coolant side is most critically affected by TMF.•We find oxidation phasing is sensitive in addition to earlier reported constants.

Suitable models and software were integrated to provide a life assessment tool for aero jet engine blades. The approach combines aircraft and engine performance, turbine blade sizing, heat transfer, finite element analysis (FEA), and thermo-mechanical fatigue life assessment (TMF) using the Neu/Sehitoglu (N/S) TMF model. For a typical medium range flight mission, we find that the environmental (oxidation) effect drives the TMF blade life and the blade coolant side is identified as the critical location. Furthermore, a parametric and sensitivity study of the N/S model parameters suggests that in addition to four previously reported parameters, the sensitivity of the phasing to oxidation damage (ξev) could be critical to overall TMF life.