Failure Investigation of an Airline Engine Failure During Take Off

Abstract

Abstract An Iran Airlines CF6–80C2A2F engine had a turbine failure during takeoff from the Arlanda airport in Sweden, in January 2010. Failure investigation of the engine was performed by Lufthansa Technik AG (LHT). The Swedish Accident Investigation Board (SHK) requested a second opinion of the available High Pressure Turbine (HPT) Diffuser Aft Seal hardware, received from LHT, and because of GKN Aerospace Sweden's extensive experience as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of Swedish fighter engines this second failure analysis work was performed by GKN. The failure investigation of the Diffuser Aft Seal pieces and fragments received from LHT revealed no fractures or fatigue cracks which are believed to be evidences of the primary cause to the failure. However, a secondary fatigue crack was found in an aft tooth fragment from the Diffuser Aft Seal. This tooth fragment has also a machining step on the forward surface, between a repair weld and the original tooth, with a geometry which gives a stress concentration factor of about 2.5 for radial and bending stresses in this area. This machining step may have contributed to initiate a fatigue crack in the seal tooth.