STRUCTURE REPAIR

ABARIS PROPOSES A DEVELOPMENT EFFORT TO RESEARCH THE PROBLEM AND CONCEPTUALIZE AN EXPERT SYSTEM TOOL FOR JOB AIDING OF THE REPAIR OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE. THE SYSTEM WOULD CONSIST OF EXPERT SYSTEMS SOFTWARE, KNOWLEDGE OF AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE DESIGN, INSPECTION, AND REPAIR TECHNIQUES, STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS TOOLS, COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN ENGINEERING DATA BASE, AND VIDEO DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS. THE U.S. AIR FORCE HAS A NEED FOR JOB AIDING TOOLS TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE OF THE LOGISTICS AND MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS.A MAJOR PROBLEM FACING THE AIR FORCE IS THE IMPACT OF NEW STRUCTURAL MATERIALS ENTERING OPERATIONAL SERVICE. THE NEW ADVANCED COMPOSITES; GRAPHITE AND KEVLAR FIBERS, EPOXY AND BISMALEIMIDE RESINS, ETC., OFFERSIGNIFICANT WEIGHT REDUCTIONS AND OTHER OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES, BUT REQUIRE DIFFERENT INSPECTION AND REPAIR TECHNIQUES THAN THE METALS THEY REPLACE. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL HAVE APPLICATION TO BATTLE DAMAGE, ORGANIZATIONAL, INTERMEDIATE, AND DEPOT LEVEL REPAIR OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE. THE BASIC EXPERT SYSTEM COULD BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE ALL STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE AIRCRAFT.