Real-time In-situ Impact and Damage Locator in Anisotropic Aerospace Structures

Acellent Technologies and Professor FG Yuen of Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of North Carolina State University propose to develop an advanced real-time built-in diagnostic system for the monitoring and locating impacts and growing damage in anisotropic aerospace structures. The proposed technologies will provide real-time information on the integrity of structures on aircraft using lightweight, high-performance materials such as polymer-matrix or ceramic-matrix composites, and greatly increase flight safety while decreasing inspection labor and cost. Acellents existing hardware and sensors will be used for instrumentation. The focus of the development will be on developing innovative signal processing algorithms and software systems for intelligent data analysis. Signal processing has been playing a crucial role in various non-destructive testing and structure health monitoring applications. In this project novel signal processing algorithms will be developed for intelligent data analysis and to provide accurate information on the type of damage, location of damage and its size. BENEFIT: A successful outcome would improve aviation safety and reduce aircraft inspection time and expense.  Inspection time reduction would directly increase asset availability.)