An integrated life-cycle maintenance modeling and simulation framework for aero engine fleet management decision support

Abstract

Aero engine fleet management concerns the engine life-cycle maintenance, repair, and overhaul process decision making as well as the associated fleet spare inventory management, which is strongly influenced by the environmental and operating conditions they are subjected to in service. In this paper a comprehensive life-cycle simulation framework is proposed for engine fleet management decision making support, covering the entire process from individual engine shop visit maintenance modeling to fleet level engine spare inventory planning. The result of case study shows that the proposed simulation framework is useful not only for lifetime reliability and maintenance cost prediction and fleet engine spares planning by properly accounting for the varying environmental and operating conditions, but also provides an effective decision support tool for engine fleet maintenance management.