Approaches to hybrid SHM and NDE of composite aerospace structures

Jennifer E. Michaels; Alexander J. Dawson; Thomas E. Michaels; Massimo Ruzzene

doi:10.1117/12.2045172

9 March 2014 Approaches to hybrid SHM and NDE of composite aerospace structures

Jennifer E. Michaels, Alexander J. Dawson, Thomas E. Michaels, Massimo Ruzzene

Proceedings Volume 9064, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2014; 906427 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2045172
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Periodic inspection of aerospace structures, while essential for ensuring their safety, incurs significant costs over a structure’s life and also can result in significant loss of service. Structural health monitoring (SHM), which is also referred to as in situ nondestructive evaluation (NDE), offers the promise of more frequent assessments of structural integrity with little or no loss of service; however, such systems are not in common use. Here we consider a combined SHM and NDE approach to inspection of composite, plate-like components where the SHM system detects sites of possible damage and the follow-up NDE method utilizes the in situ SHM sensors to facilitate the inspection. The specific SHM approach considered is that of a sparse guided wave array using simple transducers that are spatially distributed on the structure. The NDE approach is non-contact guided wavefield imaging whereby one or more of the SHM transducers is used as a source and full wavefield data are recorded over the area of interest. This method has the advantage over conventional ultrasonic methods of being non-contact and requiring minimal surface preparation. Sparse array and wavefield data from a composite specimen with simulated sites of damage are presented here to illustrate the concept. Damage is simulated via glued-on steel plate pieces at multiple locations, and localization is performed using delay-and-sum imaging. A small, single site of simulated damage is well-localized, whereas larger and multiple sites of damage are not; however, their presence is readily detected. The follow-up wavefield imaging using a single sparse array transducer as a source is able to not only locate the sites of damage, but is able to provide a reasonable estimate of their sizes.

Citation Download Citation

Jennifer E. Michaels, Alexander J. Dawson, Thomas E. Michaels, and Massimo Ruzzene "Approaches to hybrid SHM and NDE of composite aerospace structures", Proc. SPIE 9064, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2014, 906427 (9 March 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2045172

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