From: phipps@ionet.net (James Phipps)
Organization: IONet
Date: 04 Aug 96 16:44:54
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In article <airliners.1996.1448@ohare.Chicago.COM>,
pwezeman@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu says...
>
> What degree of containment in the event of a burst fan, compressor or
>turbine disk is supposed to be provided by a jet engine housing or nacelle?
>I seem to recall reading that some engines used kevlar to help armor the
>shroud. Is this a new requirement?
I don't know what the current FAR's require for blade containment. The fan
section is the most vulnerable to failure since it is the first area subject
to FOD strikes. The fan blade tips themselves are traveling just under the
speed of sound when the engine is spooled-up. The compressor and turbine
blades are not as much a problem since they rotate on a much smaller diameter.
I do know that in recent years B737's w/G.E. engines used kevlar in the engine
housing. At Boeing's plant in Witchita,KS, I saw inlet shrouds for G.E.
engines during construction. There was a ring of kevlar on the inside of the
inlet where the fan disk would be. The Boeing engineer explained that it was
kevlar cloth folded up into a thick ring having several layers (akind to a
bullet-proof vest). He said this setup was tested by intentionally exploding
a fan disk at operating r.p.m. He said only one piece of one blade made it
through the kevlar ring. If I were sitting opposite an engine during a fan
disk failure, that would be one piece too many!
Sorry I couldn't give you more on the reg's.
James Phipps phipps@ionet.net
Manufacturing Engineer
NORDAM Transparency Div.-Tulsa
"I only do windows!"
