Distributed Sensing System for Health Monitoring of Deep Submergence Vehicles

Deep submergence vehicles must perform in demanding marine environments to safely and effectively carry out special operations. These vehicles are subjected to damaging hydrodynamic and wave impact loading that may weaken or fail the structure. Luna Innovations proposes a distributed health monitoring system to monitor localized strain and damage within the vehicle’s structure and predict its remaining service life. The embedded sensing system promises to integrate seamlessly within existing vehicle structure and/or within the manufacturing processes of future composite marine structures. The sensing system will be small and light and will have no damaging effect on the mechanical properties of the material being monitored. The sensor system will provide unmatched resolution to accurately measure the strain throughout the entire structure and pinpoint the presence of damage before it compromises the structure’s integrity. Composite durability testing will be carried out to develop material specific prognostic models and algorithms to provide operators with data on the loading history and predictions of the remaining service life.