Review of Contemporary Methods for Reliability Analysis in Aircraft Components

Abstract

The performance degradation of an aircraft and its engine components takes place over time due to a combination of factors like foreign object damage (FoD), domestic object damage (DoD), impact of environmental conditions (corrosive, temperate, hot, and dry), atmospheric particulate matter, and gases like NO2 and SO2. While natural wear and tear happens gradually depending on a wide variety of operational characteristics, FoD and DoD are incidents that occur randomly. To model this degradation process so as to predict or estimate the remaining useful life is to enable optimal build goal and work-scope determination, reducing repair costs and increasing part and system reliability. Determining the impact of various parameters on reliability will help optimize maintenance costs and visit plans over the course of an aircraft’s or engine’s life. A substantial number of models have been proposed to address the reliability prediction problem, but practically only a few are employed. In this paper, we provide a precise yet comprehensive study of these models, classifying them broadly based on their methodology. We focus on the methods, their limitations, production readiness, and the associated datasets in an effort to facilitate faster industrial adoption of the techniques that have remained exclusively as a part of academic initiatives.