Maturation of a Guided Wave-Based Bondline Integrity Monitoring System

This contract aids in the qualification of a guided wave-based SHM system for assessing composite bondline integrity. Several critical components on the Triton UAS have been designed as rib-to-skin bonded composite joints, such as the main wing box, V-tail and aft-fuselage structure. However, due to concerns over disbonding joints, these components require labor-intensive manual inspection. The proposed technology would be integrated into the UAS structural assembly to provide real-time or on-demand feedback on the integrity of these bonded joints, therefore enabling condition based maintenance (CBM) to extend manual inspection out by many flights. Northrop has calculated that if implemented fleet-wide, this technology will save as much as $1B in inspection and preventative maintenance costs over the life of the fleet, in addition to ~5-10% more asset availability. The primary objective of this contract is to further qualify the guided wave-based SHM system to achieve a TRL 7 for detection of a class B flaw. There are 3 main requirements to this qualification. First, participate in data reduction and algorithm performance analysis and refinement in support of the FTA over 3 years of testing. Second, evaluate scaled sensor performance benchmarked against conventional NDI. Finally, flight test evaluation for a 12-node system.