Deterioration of rotor blades due to foreign object damage (FOD), erosion by sand/water, low cycle fatigue (LCF) and high cycle fatigue (HCF) all limit blade life, but cannot always be detected before a failure. The advent of tip-timing systems makes it possible to assess turbomachinery blade vibration using non-contact systems. However, these systems are still largely optical based and therefore suffer from contamination problems, further development of these systems is difficult due to problems associated with keeping the sensors clean.
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