Concept of an expert diagnostic system of the turbine engine’s flow path elements

The article presents a concept of an expert diagnostic system of the turbine engine’s flow path (compressor – combustion chamber – turbine) elements. The system adopts diagnostic signals obtained with the use of non-destructive methods implemented on the non-operating engine. The aim is to detect and assess early stages of damage to selected elements of the engine. The achievement of a reliable diagnosis on the condition of the elements requires the application of a set of diagnostic methods and carrying out the inference, including knowledge about the degradation processes of elements and correlation of the diagnostic (signals) tests results obtained with various methods. A convenient tool, which supports solution of such a set problem is an expert system, which on the one hand, makes it possible to organise the existing formal knowledge, and on the other hand – to use non-formal, or even uncertain, knowledge. The presented concept of the expert diagnostic system is based on PC-Shell system of AITECH Polish Company.