Approaches to Determining the Residual Life of the Main Components of the Helicopter, Taking Into Account the Flight Profiles Performed

The purpose of research is development of an alternative approach to determining the residual life of the product, based on the conversion of the energy of deformed power elements of the airframe structure into the consumption of an equivalent product resource through a monitoring system based on fiber-optic strain sensors.Methods. The analysis of existing methods for assessing the technical condition of the main components of aircraft products and determining their residual life based on information about the technical condition, on the basis of which the synthesis of the algorithm for determining the residual life of the main components of the helicopter, taking into account the technical condition, was carried out.Results. In the course of the study, the existing methods of assessing the technical condition of the product were classified. The shortcomings in the existing concept of determining the residual resource are indicated, the main of which is the lack of the possibility of predicting the residual resource based on the technical condition of the object (operational history). An alternative approach to determining the residual life of the main components of the helicopter is proposed, with an explanation of the approximate methodology for assessing the technical condition of the main components and the product as a whole, the composition and description of the main stages of the implementation of this approach. The composition and the sensitive element in the control system of the current technical condition of the main components of the product are determined. A fiber-optic sensor with a Bragg grid (fiber-optic pressure sensor ВОДД-1.XXX ПИКВ.401143.003 ТУ) was selected as a sensitive element for the implementation of the monitoring system.Conclusion. The proposed approach to determining the residual life of the main components of the helicopter combines high reliability indicators, which is due to the fixation of the operation history of a particular helicopter, the simplicity of determining the residual life of the product and the absence of the need for special measuring instruments in operating companies.