Structural health monitoring techniques for aircraft composite structures

In order for composite materials to be used more extensively in load carrying aircraft structures, they have to be maintained in a safe and economical manner. Critical flaws may be induced in the structure requiring repair before the next scheduled inspection. Continuous monitoring will significantly increase operational safety. The information acquired in real-time would also benefit the understanding on fracture mechanics of composites, improving the confidence in their use and broadening their applications. The cost of inspection is approximately one-third of acquiring and operating composite structures. In order to compete in the increasingly demanding area of aircraft structures cost effective techniques need to be developed. Large areas need to be scanned rapidly without removal of individual components, minimising the disruption of the structure’s operation. In this paper a review of currently used inspection methods is presented and some examples are described where Lamb wave based scanning techniques have been used to identify internal damage in multi-layered composite structures.