Towards structural health monitoring of space vehicles
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 2 October 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a recent project of complex tests on the survival of structural health monitoring (SHM) technology with piezo wafer active sensors (PWAS) and electromechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS) at simulating the concomitant action of harsh conditions of outer space: extreme temperatures, radiations, vacuum.
Design/methodology/approach
The tests were conducted on PWAS, consists in adhesive and aluminium discs as structural specimens, with PWAS bonded on them. The substantiating of PWAS-EMIS-based SHM technique consists the fact that real part of the PWAS electromechanical impedance spectrum follows with fidelity the resonance behaviour of the structure vibrating under the PWAS excitation. This EMIS signature is very sensitive to any structural changes and, on this basis, can be monitored the onset and progress of structural damages such as fatigue, cracks, corrosion, etc.
Findings
The conclusion of the tests is that the cumulative impact of severe conditions of temperature, radiation and vacuum has not generated decommissioning of sensors or adhesive, which would have meant the compromise of the methodology. A second important outcome is linked to the capability of this methodology to distinguish between the damages of mechanical origin and the false ones, caused by environmental conditions, which are, basically, harmless.
Originality/value
The question of transfer of PWAS-EMIS-based SHM technology to space vehicles and applications received, as a novelty, a first and encouraging response.
Keywords
Citation
Ursu, I., Enciu, D. and Toader, A. (2017), "Towards structural health monitoring of space vehicles", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 89 No. 6, pp. 920-927. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-07-2015-0173
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited