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TECHNICAL AIRWORTHINESS MANAGEMENT MANUAL

SECTION 3 LEAFLET 17

ENGINE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT

Applicable Regulation: 3.5.5 Engine Structural Integrity Management INTRODUCTION 1. To promote the continued airworthiness of State aircraft gas turbine engines, DGTA has established the concept of an Engine Structural Integrity Management (ESIM) system for the in-service management of the critical parts within each State aircraft gas turbine engine. Each AEO responsible for the CI management of a State aircraft gas turbine engine is required to establish, and operate within, an ESIM system. The purpose of an ESIM system is to actively manage aircraft gas turbine engines to constrain their probability of inservice failure to an acceptable level. Regulation 3.5.5 of this manual prescribes the regulations with which the Engine Structural Integrity Management (ESIM) system for each State aircraft must comply. PURPOSE 2. The purpose of this chapter is to provide guidance to AEOs on the establishment of, and compliance with, an acceptable ESIM system. SCOPE 3. This chapter provides guidance on the requirements of an ESIM system, and what should be documented in the Engine Structural Integrity Plan (ESIMP). It must be noted that where any conflicts occur between the guidance and the regulations, regulation takes precedence. ESIM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Requirements of an ESIM System 4. ESI manager responsibilities. The SDE of the AEO responsible for the CI management of an engine is to appoint an ESI Manager who will be responsible for the ESI management system, initiating changes when required, and liaising with DGTA to update the ESIMP. 5. The following critical part lifing information and publication is required of an ESIM system for an State aircraft engine: a. All engine parts that have been assigned a life limit by the engine OEM are to be listed in the parent aircraft Technical Maintenance Plan (TMP). b. All engine critical parts should be annotated with a criticality of S in the parent aircraft TMP. To determine which lifed engine parts are critical, documentation from the engine OEM should be reviewed. Such documentation would either explicitly state which parts in the engine are critical, or state the consequence of failure for each lifed part. If no such documentation exists, all engine parts lifed by the OEM should be considered critical. www.dgta.gov.my 3.17 - 1 of 4 TERHAD

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c. The TMP should correctly cite the OEM-recommended life limits, or properly approved SAO-unique life limits, for each lifed engine part. The TMP life limit for each critical part should not be greater than that recommended by the OEM. Any damage factors (eg k-factors) for critical parts should not be less than those recommended by the OEM. 6. The following information and publication is required of the usage monitoring systems for a State aircraft engine: a. Life parameters. The life usage parameters (eg cycle, operating hour) definitions used by the SAO should be consistent with the life usage parameters definition specified by the OEM, and should be accurately reflected in the TMP and relevant aircrew documentation. The TMP should correctly cite OEM-recommended equations for calculating life usage parameters. OEM documentation (eg Service Bulletins) should describe how usage is to be monitored for a particular engine. The system used by the SAO to monitor engine usage should comply with any such OEM documentation. If an alternative method is used, it must be either approved by the OEM or shown by analysis to correctly calculate usage in terms that are comparable with OEM-specified life limits. Where SAO usage monitoring system is found to result in non-conservative life consumption estimates, the TAR is to be notified. The life usage monitoring system shall be defined within the ESIMP. b. Conversion factors. Conversion factors may be used to estimate an unmeasured parameter from a measured parameter. The most common use of conversion factors is to calculate engine cycles from the number of airframe or engine hours. SAO-specific conversion factor schemes require TAR approval. Generally the scheme should also document the method required to review the conversion factors, and the review can be carried out by the AEO. Any SAO-derived conversion factors in use should be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain valid and do not underestimate the life consumed on any part in the fleet. This is best achieved by calculating actual cyclic accrual rate in accordance with OEM recommendations, from a representative sample of recent fleet usage data. The following points should be considered when assessing conversion factor calculations: (1). The usage data sampling period, and extent (detail and range of data recorded), should be representative of fleet usage. (2). Is the conversion factor based on worst case or mean fleet usage (or somewhere in between),and is this appropriate? FAA AC 33-2B Section 33.14 recommends consideration of a representative severe operation cycle, identified from service experience. (3). What is the impact on the conversion factors of any engine or aircraft fleet rotation policies? (4). Is a more sophisticated method of monitoring engine usage such as use of an automated cycle counter warranted? Since a conversion factor must not allow usage to be underestimated for any part in a given fleet, it follows that usage is overestimated for most (if not all) parts in the fleet. This results in early retirement of the majority of parts, and much higher spare parts consumption over the LOT of the aircraft fleet than if individual engine part usage had been calculated more accurately. Conversion factors are particularly wasteful where there is wide variation in usage between individual aircraft in a fleet or between different operating units. c. Ground running. All engine usage should be recorded, including all installed and uninstalled ground run usage, unless the OEM has specifically stated that certain www.dgta.gov.my 3.17 - 2 of 4 TERHAD

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engine usage (eg ground running) does not need to be recorded. The source of such statements should be identified in the ESIMP. d. Certification of unique computer programs. Any computer programs used to track engine critical part life consumption should be thoroughly validated to ensure that the algorithms and parameters used by the program correctly calculate part life consumption. Additionally, a process should be in place to control the configuration of the software to ensure that all users of the software are using the correct version and that any updates to SAO life limits are incorporated correctly within an appropriate timeframe. 7. Applicability Review. Fatigue and creep damage accrual can be affected by changes to configuration, role and environment. Unless the usage monitoring system is extremely sensitive, this will mean the design life limits and usage monitoring requirements will require regular validation to account for variations in configuration, role and environment. Usually OEM review of SAO usage against the design usage during the first two years of introduction to service, and every five years thereafter. This is guidance only, and the period may need to be reduced or extended if CRE variations are more frequent or less frequent respectively. 8. Condition Monitoring. The ESIM system is to ensure that the CM programs operated for the engine are complete, including all phases listed. 9. Deviations. The part life prediction methods used by OEMs are complex and make use of proprietary data and techniques that the OEM itself has generated or developed, normally at great expense. Without the support and assistance of the OEM, it is impossible for the SAO to accurately assess the impact that deviating from the OEM recommended life limit for a part would have on the probability of failure. Applications for deviations or modifications to the life limits and requirements established for critical parts by the OEM to the TAR should therefore be accompanied by OEM risk assessment results where available. In all cases a risk assessment and recommendation from the SDE of the responsible AEO is required. 10. ESIM System Audits. DGTA staff will periodically audit each ESIM system to check that SAO engine part lifing and usage monitoring methods are sufficient to constrain the probability of part failure to an acceptable level (normally the level associated with the correct implementation of the OEM recommended life limit and usage monitoring method). Engine Structural Integrity Management Plans (ESIMPs) 11. Purpose. The purpose of the ESIMP is to ensure a high level of visibility and continuity of the ESIM system is maintained throughout the service life of an engine type. It acts as design disclosure documentation for the ESIM system. 12. Condition monitoring. No ESIMPs have Condition Monitoring (CM) information. The ESIMP may be an appropriate place to document CM programs. The information in a section of the ESIMP should emulate that required of a CMPP for a new acquisition aircraft. 13. ESIMP management. The ESIMP documents the ESIM system to a level of detail appropriate for its purpose of disclosing the design of the ESIM system. It is recognised that for some engine types, some of the information will be unavailable or inapplicable. Where this is the case, a statement that answers the intent of the requirement should be made. For example, the assessment of configuration changes on engine component life may not be available, because the engine OEM has not conducted such an analysis. The absence of this information requires engineering review and comment in the ESIMP.

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14. ESIMP amendment. ESIMPs must be approved by the TAR prior to release. A reasonably complete draft should be reviewed by a DE or SDE at the SAO PO before the document is submitted for TAR approval.

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