Advanced Arresting Gear Water Twister Diagnostics and Health Monitoring

The arresting system is a critical component to ensure mission readiness and pilot safety during landing operations on an aircraft carrier. The Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) Water Twister is the most critical mechanical component for absorbing kinetic energy from landing aircraft and as such it is necessary to ensure its reliability and health status. Issues have previously been identified with the design of the new AAG technology, specifically with the Water Twister, which has led to delays for system delivery and increased cost. A man-portable diagnostic tool is desired to accurately and reliably assess the health of the Water Twister. This proposal describes continued development of a combined acoustic emission (AE) and ultrasonic testing (UT) inspection solution which will allow for detection, localization, and classification of damage within the Water Twister using exterior sensors to perform in-situ inspection without disassembly. Initial Phase I results show great promise for AE technology to detect and locate cracks on interior components and the housing and for UT technology to assess damage status in key hot-spot areas. This effort will result in a prototype hardware and software system which will assist the user in damage testing and assessment.