Airliner engine design code wins R&D 100 Award for Southwest Research Institute

For immediate release

San Antonio, Texas --  August 11, 2000 -- A software design code, developed for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by Southwest Research Institute^® (SwRI^®) to help engine manufacturers improve the safety of jet engines used in commercial airliners, was named one of the 100 top technical achievements of the past year by R&D Magazine.

SwRI earned two of the R&D 100 Awards for 2000.

DARWIN™ (Design Assessment of Reliability With INspection) was developed with support from commercial gas turbine engine manufacturers Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, and GE Aircraft Engines, and the Rotor Integrity Subcommittee (RISC) of the Aerospace Industries Association. The FAA has authorized SwRI to make DARWIN commercially available under license starting in 2001.

The software code is used to assess the risk that a jet engine's titanium rotor disk might contain a dangerous metallurgical flaw that could cause fatigue cracking, leading to possible catastrophic failure. One such failure in 1989 led to more than 100 fatalities in the crash of a DC-10 airliner at Sioux City, Iowa, after fragments from a disintegrating engine disk disabled the aircraft's hydraulic flight control systems.

DARWIN integrates finite element stress analysis results, fracture mechanics-based life assessment for low-cycle fatigue, material anomaly data, probability of anomaly detection, and inspection schedules to determine the probability of fracture of a rotor disk as a function of aircraft flights. Its use is expected to reduce the risk of catastrophic turbine rotor failure by as much as an order of magnitude for new designs.

"DARWIN is an integral part of the Federal Aviation Administration's strategic plan to reduce the U.S. aviation accident rate by reducing the failure rate of rotor disks in commercial aircraft turbine engines. We are pleased to play a significant part in the FAA's plan to make flying even safer than it already is," said Dr. Harry R. Millwater, Jr., principal engineer in the Institute's Mechanical and Materials Engineering Division.

The 1999 awards bring the total number of R&D 100 awards won by SwRI to 23 since 1971. SwRI is co-recipient, along with Pressure Systems International of San Antonio, of an R&D 100 Award for the Meritor Tire Inflation System, which automatically inflates, monitors and equalizes tire air pressures in long-haul trailer rigs. The awards are to be presented in Chicago on September 27, 2000.

For further technical information, access Southwest Research Institute at www.swri.org or call Millwater, (210) 522-2006. The DARWIN home page is darwin@swri.org.

For more information about DARWIN™, contact Joe Fohn, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas, 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-4630, Fax (210) 522-3547.

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