Smart sensing for Aviation (crack)

The introduction of composite manufacturing techniques gives rise to new opportunities for the manufacturing of aerospace technology. However, composite manufacturing also comes with new challenges. Metal structures subject to an impact show visible dents, however composites often demonstrate barely visible impact damage (BVID), with hidden damage under small surface scratches or scuff marks. Such hidden damage requires advanced 3D-volume sensing real-time quality checks at all stages of the structure's lifetime, including as it travels through the factory.

In this project structural health monitoring will be developed for application in a factory environment. The developed sensor technology will not be restricted to impact damage, but can also find application for monitoring process parameters defects introduced by the manufacturing and assembly processes. This sensor network will be based on the integration, or surface mounting, of sensors in the composite structure. For large surfaces, the minimum number of sensors required to detect a) all critical impact events, b) the position of the impact, and c) the force of the impact, will be determined. Integration of data from multiple sensors requires the development of algorithms for distributed data processing and decision making, to handle the big data.