Composite materials and structures are becoming more and more important due to modern lightweight design strategies imposed by the need of material, fuel consumption and costs reduction; especially in key industries like automotive, aerospace, wind energy. However, the lightweight design strategy brings the requirement of well understanding and mastering the complex multi-modes damage behavior of composite structures; as well as associated SHM methods and systems to assure the safety requirements of the lightweight composite structure under severe and long term loading conditions. On this background, the goal of the research is the development of a new Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) method for lightweight composite structures; based on a combined experimental and computational approach. The experimental method of non-contact photogrammetry will be deployed for damage detection; in conjunction with the computational method of Finite Element model updating for damage identification (i.e., localization, characterization). Special attention in terms of both theoretical formulation and computational implementation will be given to the new nonlocal peridynamics theory for composite damage mechanics analysis.
The research idea is mainly motivated by the advantages offered by the non-contact feature of the proposed SHM method; eliminating thus the need of complex sensor networks attached to the structure for damage detection; and eliminating thus some of the main disadvantages of the attached/embedded SHM sensing systems: pre-defined known locations for sensors placement, possibility of sensors damage, sensitivity of the sensor baseline measurements to environmental conditions, complex wiring and data acquisition systems, high implementation and operation costs. Consequently, the research results and the SHM method proposed here can have direct applicability and can be of high-interest for advanced industrial application such as aeronautical and wind energy lightweight composite structures.
The impact of the research is expected under multiple aspects of scientific (new knowledge, research, and innovation capacity), economic (condition based maintenance, reduced inspection down time), and societal (increased safety and security for structures and public) benefits.
Project funding:
Projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects carried out by researchers’ teams
Period of project implementation: 2019-06-01 - 2022-06-30
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
Project partners: University of South Carolina, University of Arizona
