The newly designed abradable coatings are usually validated by rig tests, where samples are rubbed by the contact of a dummy blade with given running speed and incursion rate, simulating actual working conditions in an aircraft engine. The aim of this work was to develop a model of abradable coating rig tests, allowing extensive studies on the influence of coating properties and test conditions on the thermal behaviour of the system. The proposed model includes several steps implementing different numerical tools. Firstly, a relevant structural description of an abradable coating is obtained from micrographs, using an original image analysis route. FE (Finite Element) calculations based on this description allow then to estimate the coefficients of an anisotropic elastic law of mechanical behaviour. Furthermore, a plasticity law is deduced from a FE simulation of the material HR15Y hardness. These parameters are used as input of a FE simulation of a single blade-to-coating rubbing hit, resulting in calculated stresses and temperatures. Finally a global approach of the complete abradability test, based on the results obtained from the simulation of a single hit and on various assumptions, provides predictions of the blade and coating temperature variations versus time during a complete abradability test.

Globalisation is moving business’s emphasis away from basic technologies towards “information and knowledge”. Indeed, knowledge based processes and products have become a new paradigm. As such, the management (control and retrieval) and use of data has become a central activity both for companies themselves and, increasingly, within wider supply chains. Adding “value” to data and creating “knowledge” will be a key element of future business growth. Handling and, more importantly, exploiting the current explosion of electronic information represents a real challenge to companies. However, the emergence of new, semantic tools which can “intelligently” interrogate and manipulate data could turn a potential problem into an opportunity.