Preliminary Results of a Structural Health Monitoring System Application for Real-Time Debonding Detection on a Full-Scale Composite Spar

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 455
• Main Authors: Ciminello, Monica, Sikorski, Bogdan, Galasso, Bernardino, Pellone, Lorenzo, Mercurio, Umberto, Concilio, Antonio, Apuleo, Gianvito, Cozzolino, Aniello, Kressel, Iddo, Shoham, Shay, Tur, Moshe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Adhesives; Aircraft; Algorithms; Comparative analysis; composite structures; Computers; Cost control; damage characterization; Design; Drone aircraft; Fasteners; Fiber optics; Measurement; Mechanical properties; Methods; Monitoring, Physiologic; Non-destructive testing; real-time processing; Sensors; smart devices; Software; Strains and stresses; Stress relaxation (Materials); Stress relieving (Materials); structural health monitoring; Testing; Italy; damage characterization; composite structures; smart devices; structural health monitoring; sensors; real-time processing
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s23010455

The present paper reports the outcomes of activities concerning a real-time SHM system for debonding flaw detection based on ground testing of an aircraft structural component as a basis for condition-based maintenance. In this application, a damage detection method unrelated to structural or load models is investigated. In the reported application, the system is applied for real-time detection of two flaws, kissing bond type, artificially deployed over a full-scale composite spar under the action of external bending loads. The proposed algorithm, local high-edge onset (LHEO), detects damage as an edge onset in both the space and time domains, correlating current strain levels to next strain levels within a sliding inner product proportional to the sensor step and the acquisition time interval, respectively. Real-time implementation can run on a consumer-grade computer. The SHM algorithm was written in Matlab and compiled as a Python module, then called from a multiprocess wrapper code with separate operations for data reception and data elaboration. The proposed SHM system is made of FBG arrays, an interrogator, an in-house SHM code, an original decoding software (SW) for real-time implementation of multiple SHM algorithms and a continuous interface with an external operator.