Abstract One major challenge confronting the aerospace industry today is to develop a reliable and universal Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system allowing for direct aircraft inspections and maintenance costs reduction. SHM based on guided Lamb waves is an approach capable of addressing this issue and satisfying all the associated requirements. This paper presents an approach to monitoring damage growth in composite aerospace structures and early damage detection. The main component of the system is a piezoelectric transducers (PZT) network integrated with composites. This work describes sensors’ integration with the structure. In particular, some issues concerning the mathematical algorithms giving information about damage from the impact damage presence and its growth are discussed.

Abstract In the field of magnetic sensors, magnetic microwires with positive magnetostriction are the materials of the future. Their mechanical and magnetic properties render them ideal materials for applications in aeronautics. A single microwire with a 40 jj.m diameter and a length of 10 mm is capable of capturing information about tensile stresses, magnetic fields, temperature and distance. This information is carried by a parameter called the Switching Field, HSW, which is specific for different types of microwire. Numerous physical qualities affect the HSW and through sensing of HSW, these qualities may be quantified. (A number of physical qualities affecting HSW can be sensed and quantified by means of a contactless induction method.) What distinguishes the system developed by the present authors from other measuring systems based on magnetic microwires is the positioning of a microwire outside the coil system. Thanks to this improvement it is possible to use microwires embedded directly in the construction material. Small dimensions microwires do not damage the structure of the construction material. The absence of a galvanic connection makes this technology even more interesting compared with traditional forge gauges. Offering the possibility of the simultaneous measuring of four parameters, this technology can be used in a wide range of aviation applications. Measurements of an external magnetic field can be usedfor the navigation and stabilization of an aerial vehicle. Tensile stress and distance measuring can be helpful to understand some processes occurring under the surface of the construction material and also to perform fatigue monitoring or structure load monitoring. Another big advantage of magnetic microwires is the low price. Just 1 gram of base material is sufficient to prepare about 40 km of microwire. All these features combine to offer us a material ideal for Smart Sensors, possibly available for use in the near future.

Abstract Operational flight loads have been analyzed from two business jets, a Global 5000 and a Global Express XRS. It is shown that both airframes were subjected to nearly the same number of ground-air-ground cycles, even though the flight times were much different. Flights have been divided into various phases, and loads and turbulence data have been categorized by altitude bands within each phase. Cumulative occurrences of incremental vertical gust load factors have been compared and shown to be comparable for the two airframes. Maneuver load factors have been shown to spread over a wider range of values for the 5000 in every phase. This has been confirmed through comparison of combined loads with those from a CRJ100 and an ERJ-145XR. Derived gust velocities, obtained from the load factors are presented in the form of exceedance spectra. These results from both aircraft are shown to agree well

Abstract This article is based on research done during the author’s PhD at Cardiff University, UK. A prototype of a novel wireless energy transmission system aimed at the use with wireless aircraft structural health monitoring (SHM) sensor nodes is described. The system uses ultrasonic guided plate waves (Lamb waves) to transmit energy along an aluminium plate, similar to those used in aircraft structures. Three types of piezoelectric transducers generating and receiving the ultrasonic vibration were compared. The Smart Material MFC M8528-P1 was found to achieve the best performance, allowing the transmission of 17 mW across a 54 cm distance, while being driven with a 20 V signal. Laser vibrometer imaging and LISA software simulation of the Lamb wave propagation in the experimental plate were also performed. Based on these, ideas for a further development of the system were proposed.

Abstract One approach to developing a system of continues automated monitoring of structural health is to use elastic waves excited in a given medium by a piezoelectric transducers network. Depending on their source and the geometry of the structure under consideration elastic waves can propagate over a significant distance. They are also sensitive to local structure discontinuities and deformations providing a tool for detecting local damage in large aerospace structures. This paper investigates the issue of Barely Visible Impact Damages (BVIDs) detection in composite materials. The model description and the results of impact tests verifying damage detection capabilities of the proposed signal characteristics are presented in the paper.

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Service Life Assessment Program of PZL-130 Orlik TCII StructureThe following paper concerns the structural integrity program (SEWST) for the PZL-130 Orlik TCII trainer aircraft. The origin of the program is defined as well as the most important tasks necessary to fulfill the assumed goal.

This paper deals with the behavior of a crack in the residual stress field induced by the butt weld in a wide plate. It is known that the distribution form of residual stress has similarities regardless of the welding process, although the size and the magnitude of the residual stress depend largely on the welding process. Stress intensity factor and stress redistribution induced by the crack extension were calculated for a crack with arbitrary length and location. The stress redistributions caused by crack extension obtained by the present analysis showed good agreement with the experimental data. Fatigue crack propagation behavior in the residual stress field reported by Glinka was also examined from ΔK point of view. The effect of residual stress on the fatigue crack propagation rate is considered to be the effect of varying mean stress. It was shown that fatigue crack propagation rate is estimated by the following equation with reasonable accuracy.

Experimental and Numerical Study of Strain Progress During and After Riveting Process for Brazier Rivet and Rivet with Compensator - Squeezing Force and Rivet Type EffectThe paper presents the experimental and numerical investigation of the stress and strain field around the rivet after the riveting process. The measurements were carried out with the X-ray diffractometer and strain gauges on the sheet surface near the driven head. The axisymmetric and 3D FEM analyses of the riveting process were performed.The article presents experimental and numerical results for two types of the brazier rivets used in the Polish aerospace industry; the normal rivet (BN-70/1121-06) and the rivet with a compensator (OST 1 34040-79 1). Bare sheets made from 2024 T3 aluminium alloy with the nominal thickness of 1,27 mm and rivets with the diameter of 3 mm and 3,5 mm made from Polish aluminium alloy PA25 were used. The measurements were compared with the FEM calculations. The influence of squeezing force as well as the rivet type on stress and the strain system was investigated.

Analysis of the Possibility to Assess the Occurrence of Hidden Corrosion in Lap Joints Using Active ThermographyThe article details the NDT technique of pulse thermography used for objective diagnosis of riveted lap joints construction. The degradation of materials manifesting in corrosion is inherent in the process of aircraft operation. One type of corrosion is galvanic corrosion occurring in the overlap joints (known as hidden corrosion). As a result of the potential difference between the two layers of the aluminum alloy skin, there occurs the phenomenon of oxidation of the material, producing corrosion products in the form of oxide compounds characterized by heat properties different than those of the base material. Active thermography techniques allow observing infrared energy, which changes due to the difference of thermal properties of the tested materials.