STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING AND LIFE PROGNOSIS OF AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

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THE NEED:Air transport is increasingly becoming more accessible to a greater number of people who can afford traveling by air, both inside and outside Canada, for leisure and business purposes. More to the point, Canada's air transportation system was used by more than 120 million passengers in 2012, an increase of 3.6% over 2011. At its Airports Canada 2013 Conference & Exhibition, the Canadian Airports Council unveiled its first economic impact study in more than a decade. Canada's air transportation industry had a $34.9-billion economic footprint in 2012, supported 405,000 jobs and personal income of more than $17 billion and federal taxation of more than $7 billion. This is in addition to broader economic benefits, such as supporting the livelihoods of Canadians in remote regions, economic development in the north and in the natural resources sector, and enhancing business operations and efficiency. Over the next decade, the sector forecasts that both passenger and freight traffic is expected to increase at an average of 5% p.a., with freight being expected to increase slightly more - both significantly above global GDP growth. In air transport terms, this implies a doubling of traffic about every 16 years. Thus, it is evident that environmental requirements, such as noise impact, emissions and safety, will play a dominant role in future transport aircraft development, becoming a driving force for new metrics in transportation. The direct greening design criteria are represented by 80% cut in NOx emissions, halving perceived aircraft noise and CO2 emissions per passenger-Km, and reducing accident rate by 80% through novel configurations, weight savings, improved manufacturing processes and products, energy efficient propulsion systems, and robust and reliable condition based maintenance techniques. PROPOSED PROGRAMThe proposal outlines a research program to improve the performance of complex multidisciplinary engineering systems through advances in mathematical and computational models, and experimental methods. The primary objective is to connect emerging mathematical models and enabling technologies with new designs and concepts of operations to achieve “Leaner, Greener and Safer” Transportation, with emphasis on aerospace systems. The research focuses on the Structural Health Management of advanced fiber reinforced polymer aircraft composite structures. It is based on the assessment and integration of three SHM methodologies including ultrasonic Lamb waves, fiber optic sensors and vibration-based techniques. A unified structural health monitoring approach is proposed. More specifically, the research will focus on the development of signal processing techniques and algorithms for identifying and detecting damages in composite structures using proposed SHM methodologies (Lamb waves and vibration based with embedded optical fiber), the comparison of FBG sensors performance with Lamb wave and vibration based techniques with the purpose of developing a unified SHM approach, and the development of usage monitoring techniques to predict the remaining useful life of composite structures using bonded and/or embedded fiber optic sensors where the composite structures include plates with open holes and bonded joints and plates with rivets. Finally, in order to make the embedded systems autonomous, energy harvesting techniques using piezoelectric transducers will also be explored.BENEFITSStructural Health Monitoring technology in the framework of a Condition based Maintenance philosophy will allow time and cost reduction of airframe maintenance operations. More specifically, the proposed research program will achieve reduced aircraft operating costs and improved aircraft safety and security.