Demonstration and Analysis of an Improved Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Method for Rotary Wing Head Spindle Threads

Abstract

Present inspection methods for the Black Hawk helicopter rotary wing head spindle require almost complete disassembly of the rotary wing head and hub assemblies to expose the failure critical threads for inspection. Even with direct access to the threads, detection of fatigue cracks in the thread roots is very difficult using penetrant and visual methods. Therefore, the primary purpose of this project was to demonstrate an improved nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method for the spindle using the electric current perturbation (ECP) method which requires only minimal disassembly for safety-of-flight inspections. High sensitivity inspection of the spindle threads applicable to routine teardown maintenance was also demonstrated.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1982
Accession Number
ADA128741

Entities

People

  • Cecil M. Teller
  • Gary L. Burkhardt

Organizations

  • Southwest Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abrasives
  • Air Force
  • Army Aviation
  • Contracts
  • Demonstrations
  • Detection
  • Electric Current
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Filters
  • Geometry
  • Helicopters
  • High Pass Filters
  • Shape
  • Signal Processing
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Thickness
  • Turbines

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures.
  • Tribology (the study of the boundary interaction between sliding surfaces, lubrication, wear and friction).