Predictive maintenance - Service life extension

The service life of components subject to cyclic loads is limited by the activation of fatigue mechanisms. If the component has been properly designed, its service life should be long enough for it not to have to be repaired or replaced during its service life. However, occasionally, unforeseen events occur that were not considered in the design phase (corrosion processes, assembly damage, geometric errors, etc.) causing fatigue life to be significantly reduced.

In situations in which this kind of events occur in a high number of units, the replacement of components may not be a viable option for economic reasons. Instead, it is necessary to implement predictive maintenance measures that coexist with cracks, only replacing those components that are badly damaged.

Therefore, predictive maintenance is a tool that enables components that are not performing as expected, due to the fact that they have suffered damage (cracks) and hence their service life is reduced, to continue operating and it helps to maximise their service life based on safe predictions of the evolution of the damage.