The effects of adverse climatic conditions on aircraft reliability and maintenance

This thesis describes the effects of adverse climatic conditions (sand-dust and high temperature) on aircraft reliability and maintenance. An important and necessary part of the research was conducting field work in aircraft maintenance organisations in Kuwait in order to identify the problems and associated difficulties from the adverse climatic conditions on aircraft systems and aircraft maintenance. Also collected were data and aircraft samples so that they could be analysed to construct models which can be implemented in aircraft maintenance. This research has shown that there are three main systems affected by sand-dust, namely engine, avionics and air conditioning. Engine system experienced significant impact by sand-dust. The PM1Q concentration of sand-dust was found to be the dominant particle size in all three aircraft systems. The PM10 concentration and meteorological parameters were found to be significantly correlated. Two prototype models were constructed, namely Model 1 and Model 2. Forecasts of PM1Q concentration value is generated from meteorological parameters in Model 1. The percentage of deterioration of engine HPT blade from sand-dust contamination is predicted from engine flight data, PM10 concentration and meteorological parameters by Model 2. Both models were tested using historic data and found to accurately predict the PM10 concentration and deterioration of engine HPT blade respectively. In summary, this research provides a novel approach to improve aircraft reliability and maintenance in. arid and semi-arid regions Where sand-dust is dominant, by the implementation of the two prototype models.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo