Rotor health monitoring combining spin tests and data-driven anomaly detection methods

Health monitoring is highly dependent on sensor systems that are capable of performing in various engine environmental conditions and able to transmit a signal upon a predetermined crack length, while acting in a neutral form upon the overall performance of the engine system. Efforts are under way at NASA Glenn Research Center through support of the Intelligent Vehicle Health Management Project (IVHM) to develop and implement such sensor technology for a wide variety of applications. These efforts are focused on developing high temperature, wireless, low cost, and durable products. In an effort to address technical issues concerning health monitoring, this article considers data collected from an experimental study using high frequency capacitive sensor technology to capture blade tip clearance and tip timing measurements in a rotating turbine engine-like-disk to detect the disk faults and assess its structural integrity. The experimental results composed at a range of rotational speeds from tests conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center’s Rotordynamics Laboratory are evaluated and integrated into multiple data-driven anomaly detection techniques to identify faults and anomalies in the disk. In summary, this study presents a select evaluation of online health monitoring of a rotating disk using high caliber capacitive sensors and demonstrates the capability of the in-house spin system.