Aircraft engine dust ingestion following sand storms

Abstract

Commercial aircraft operating in some regions of the world are subject to harsh atmospheric conditions that can affect the efficiency and integrity of modern aero-engines. Conditions that are investigated in this contribution are dusty atmospheres following sand storms. Specifically, the dust ingested by the engines of an Airbus A380-841 (Rolls-Royce Trent 900) operating out of Doha airport (IATA: HIA) is estimated by simulating climb-out trajectories over three separate calendar months during which a number of sand storms have been identified. The atmosphere model incorporates dust concentration hind-casts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) near real-time Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service database. A total of 365 flights were considered. The average dust mass ingested into the engine core per flight is estimated as ∼8.5 g. Using a compressor fouling prediction model, the dust ingestion reduces the asymptotic deterioration rate time constant by a factor ∼8. The worst dust storm within the time frame considered is selected for further examination. This flight is flagged as a dust-flight, during which the total mass of dust ingested into the engine core exceeds the monthly mean by two standard deviations. A peak dust ingestion rate of 22 mg/s occurs shortly after take-off, midway through the first climb segment. A second peak presents as the aircraft transitions into the climb from 3,000 feet to 10,000 feet. Finally, the dust ingested during a 20-minute holding pattern over the Persian Gulf is estimated as ∼8 g, which is approximately the same as the dust ingested during climb-out on a very dusty day. The results suggest that a mission-based approach may be more useful for determining aircraft engine durability in dusty environments.