Structural health monitoring of an aircraft joint

A major concern with ageing aircraft is the deterioration of structural components in the form of fatigue cracks at fastener holes, loose rivets and debonding of joints. These faults in conjunction with corrosion can lead to multiple-site damage and pose a hazard to flight. Developing a simple vibration-based method of damage detection for monitoring ageing structures is considered in this paper. The method is intended to detect damage during operation of the vehicle before the damage can propagate and cause catastrophic failure of aircraft components. It is typical that only a limited number of sensors could be used on the structure and damage can occur anywhere on the surface or inside the structure. The research performed was to investigate use of the chirp vibration responses of an aircraft wing tip to detect, locate and approximately quantify damage. The technique uses four piezoelectric patches alternatively as actuators and sensors to send and receive vibration diagnostic signals. Loosening of selected screws simulated damage to the wing tip. The results obtained from the testing led to the concept of a sensor tape to detect damage at joints in an aircraft structure. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.