Aiken Determines Cause of Fatigue Cracks in Press

Aiken was contracted to determine the cause of fatigue cracks in a 29,000-ton press used to manufacture critical components for jet engines and predict the residual functionality of the damaged components.

The malfunction was created through overloading and general misuse of the equipment. Aiken compiled and considered Finite Element and Fatigue Analysis data, which revealed the remaining life of the cracked components to be less than 5 years. Aiken Engineering predicted that fatigue cracks probably existed in other critical components as well. This judgment proved correct as subsequent inspections revealed more comprehensive damage.

Aiken engineers worked with the client to redesign the critical components, assisted in the manufacturing and QA/QC for the new components, and implemented an ongoing inspection program to monitor crack growth until the new components could be installed.