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J U L Y 2 0 1 4 | 3 3 WORK IN PROGRESS L E A R N M O R E @ w w w. c o m p o s i t e s w o r l d . c o m Read this article online at short. compositesworld.com/NDTcertify. Read more about Laser-based inspection in "Nondestructive Inspection: Better, faster and cheaper" (HPC November 2013, p. 32) or visit short.compositesworld.com/Pdqh3KXg. automated systems for monitoring CFRP damages on-line." Goals include earlier detection of damage, monitoring dam- age evolution and collection of a more complete data set via a larger number of inspections, but at reduced cost and with real-time transmission of data "on- line" — that is, via a computer-controlled acquisition system. The project is part of a technology demonstration managed by Airbus Military (Getafe, Spain) and is to be completed by 2016. The challenge During certifcation, myriad static and fa- tigue structural tests are required by the U.S. Federal Aviation Admin. (FAA, Wash- ington, D.C.) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (Cologne, Germany) to establish an aircraft's wing and fuselage behavior under both normal and excep- tional loading. All major components are subjected to the maximum load the air- craft could ever see in service, known as the design limit load (DLL or limit load). During this loading, UT, X-ray and/or oth- er NDT methods are used to document disbonds, delaminations, fber rupture, microcracking and other damage, as well as how this damage evolves as loading continues and as various aircraft service life objectives are simulated. The goal is to understand how composite primary structures will perform during actual air- craft operation and then to prevent un- controlled damage growth during its real lifecycle. The fight certifcation test pyramid is well documented in the composites in- dustry. What is less known, is that all of these tests — moving from coupons up to subcomponents, components and f- nally a full-scale airframe — require NDT testing and that those tests are currently performed by hand. According to Antonio Tanarro, Tec- natom's manager of aerospace business development, manual UT inspection for this type of damage monitoring at Airbus "causes more diffculty in recording the acquired data and evaluating its evolu- tion." Also, manual inspections are very slow, and because the inspections are required continuously during the test- ing, he says, "NDT operators must be present 24 hours per day." The solution In Phase I of the Clean Sky NDT research project, Tecnatom will analyze suitable NDT technologies and defne the hard- ware/software requirements for auto- mated UT scanning during structural tests. In Phase II, it will build and test a prototype, which will be automated and fully integrated into the testing process, providing online evaluation of acquired data. Tanarro notes, "This system will improve the quality of the data record- ing and repeatability of the inspections. It will also reduce inspection time and cost, resulting in valuable additional in- formation available for refning the com- posite structure manufacturing process." The Clean Sky project description notes that, practically speaking, this system should frst be proven at a sub- component structural test level during continuous testing without disassembly. It also proposes extending the system demonstration in a second term to in- spect a large structure, such as a fuse- lage cockpit. Tanarro acknowledges that these are not trivial. "The integration of the com- plete inspection process includes gener- ating and simulating the 3-D scan path, and optimizing the data acquisition and evaluation, while ensuring complemen- tarity of the NDT techniques within the automated, robot-based solution," he explains. But Tecnatom is confdent that the results will enable signifcant eff- ciency gains for the aerospace compos- ites industry. Tecnatom involvement in NDT and SHM Research Projects Project Description Sponsor Timeline Tecnatom Goals/Achievements ARTIMA Aircraft Reliability Through Intelligent Materials Application European Commission's 6 th Framework Program 2002-2006 • Application of real-time SHM to production components • Developed a piezoelectric sensor and phased-array network installed in corporate jet rear fuselage TARGET Intelligent Technologies and Environmentally Sustainable for the Generation of Composite Structures Spanish Innovation and Technology Ministry's CENIT Initiative 2010-2014 • Automated NDT before curing phase, thus no coupling allowed • Increased inspection speed • NDT in new materials LOCOMACHS Low Cost Manufacturing and Assembly of Composite and Hybrid Structures European Commission's 7 th Framework Program 2012-2016 • Reduce NDT lead time by 30 percent Research collaborations Tecnatom is involved in these and other NDT-related research efforts. 0714HPC WIP-OK.indd 33 6/17/2014 10:44:04 AM