Final Report Summary - MAGNASENSE (Magnetostrictive sensor applications for self-sensing of composite structures)
Executive Summary:
The aim of MAGNASENSE project was to develop the appropriate smart maintenance technologies, using magnetostrictive sensors, in order to enable self-sensing of the strain field developed in components manufactured by CFRP. For this reason, an innovative inductive technique based on the inverse magnetostrictive effect was introduced and special tracking/recording software to monitor the structural integrity of composite structures was developed. At the end of the project, a component scale demonstrator was manufactured (damaged stiffened panel repair with a bonded composite patch including embedded MsS), for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. In order to succeed these goals, a five step development process was followed, comprising of:
a. Identification of appropriate strain sensitive magnetic wires (Magnetostrictive Sensor – MsS) to be applied to composite structures.
b. Development of a non-contact magnetic flux sensor arrays for quick scanning and strain mapping of the composite structures.
c. Numerical simulation of arrays of sensing elements, to correlate mechanical to magnetic readings.
d. Development of appropriate algorithms and software supporting the magnetic flux sensing.
e. Manufacturing of component scale demonstrator.
Within MAGNASENSE, a complete operational chain of prototype equipment, software and sensors was attempted to be developed, that enriches the technology fronts in structural health monitoring of CFRP structures. Self sensing of CFRP components is a major step towards improving reliability and performance of aircraft structural elements. The ability to reliably monitor developed strains during or after structural loading will greatly assist in reduction of aircraft weight, through lowering of safety factors, and minimization of aircraft downtime, by increasing inspection speed and enabling prompt isolation and quantification of damaged areas.
Project Context and Objectives:
The aim of MAGNASENSE project was to develop the appropriate smart maintenance technologies, using magnetostrictive sensors, in order to enable self-sensing of the strain field developed in components manufactured by CFRP. For this reason, an innovative inductive technique based on the inverse magnetostrictive effect was introduced and special tracking/recording software to monitor the structural integrity of composite structures was developed. At the end of the project, a component scale demonstrator was manufactured (damaged stiffened panel repair with a bonded composite patch including embedded MsS), for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. In order to succeed these goals, a five step development process was followed, comprising of:
a. Identification of appropriate strain sensitive magnetic wires (Magnetostrictive Sensor – MsS) to be applied to composite structures.
b. Development of a non-contact magnetic flux sensor arrays for quick scanning and strain mapping of the composite structures.
c. Numerical simulation of arrays of sensing elements, to correlate mechanical to magnetic readings.
d. Development of appropriate algorithms and software supporting the magnetic flux sensing.
e. Manufacturing of component scale demonstrator.
Within MAGNASENSE, a complete operational chain of prototype equipment, software and sensors was attempted to be produced, that enriches the technology fronts in structural health monitoring of CFRP structures. Self sensing of CFRP components is a major step towards improving reliability and performance of aircraft structural elements. The ability to reliably monitor developed strains during or after structural loading will greatly assist in reduction of aircraft weight, through lowering of safety factors, and minimization of aircraft downtime, by increasing inspection speed and enabling prompt isolation and quantification of damaged areas.
Within the MAGNASENSE project a special sensing system have been developed, in order to support strain sensing using MsS wires, consisting of
a) An Infrared Camera.
b) A Transducer with an attached infrared led.
c) Voltmeter / Data acquisition system.
d) A Laptop running a special Sensing software.
All the required hardware and software that was developed for the application are combined in a prototype sensing system, whose operation is described below. The data acquisition system is connected to the inductive transducer and also to the computer through a LAN network, in order to measure and store the output data. The data acquisition system records the signal of the transducer converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by the computer. On top of the inductive transducer it has been attached an infrared led in order to be located by the infrared camera. The infrared camera is connected to the computer by a Bluetooth devise, in order to locate the position of the inductive transducer and provide the data to the sensing software. The camera can locate only infrared frequency. That ensures the isolation of the position signal of the transducer from external noise. The Laptop is running prototype sensing software (MagnasenseScanner) that was developed in Visual Studio 2008 environment using C++ programming language. The software uses proper libraries in order to communicate with MATLAB, data acquisition system and Bluetooth device of the camera.
MAGNASENSE Sensing System
The developed software combines the functionality of all hardware devices into a sophisticated sensing system. The innovative feature of this system consists on the technology of optical tracking. The recording of the sensors position occurs by a tracking camera that is placed firmly by the inspector, targeting the inspection area. The tracking camera scans the targeting area and detects the light that comes from the light emitter that is attached over the transducer. Using the developed software the sensing area is projected on a 2D screen coordinate, modeled and meshed into clusters. The inspection of each part (cluster) of the area is recorded transmitting X and Y position data. When the whole area is inspected, the operator can proceed with the 2D or 3D visualization of results, which indicate recorded transducers signal per inspected area, thus providing an overall mapping of the area.
The accuracy of the measurements is enhanced by appropriate filtering algorithms that were developed and incorporated in the software. Polynomial and spline fitting techniques are applied through software’s data analysis to the multidimensional data. These mathematical techniques are appropriately adapted to smooth the data, taking into account the mechanism that generates them. Therefore, an extra median filter is being used taking into account the mutual relationship between neighboring measurements which sharing a common continuum.
Another important tool that has been developed and is included in sensing software package is the image correlation tool. This tool directly provides full-field “strain” signature by comparing the recorded images of the structure surface in the un-deformed (or reference) and deformed states respectively. In principle, this tool is an optical metrology based on digital image processing and numerical computing.
The project results were evaluated mainly based on the testing of the composite demonstrator, in order to assess its applicability and efficiency for aeronautical applications. According to those results, the Magnetostrictive strain sensing methodology developed within the MAGNASENSE project was able to measure strains within the repaired panel rapidly and in a non-contact manner, in order to indicate areas where potential damage existed. As repeatedly emphasized, the success of this technique is based on the comparison and correlation of current results with previous readings, taken from the same part at the same or other loading status. Through the comparison of those readings, the method can provide indications of internal damage, at very low cost, quickly, reliably and in a non-contact manner, regardless of the loading status of the component.
For the achievement of the above mentioned goals, there were five (5) technical Work packages in order to perform the research, development and testing activities of this project, together with two (2) additional Work packages supporting the technical activities, dealing with dissemination of results and project management. More specifically:
Within WP1 the methodology to be followed will be defined in detail. This will include the definition of basic project parameters and constraints, the typical geometrical and material cases to be covered by the methodology, the sensing requirements (strain sensitivity, spatial resolution etc.), etc. Moreover, candidate magnetostrictive materials in a wire form will be examined, in order to select the most appropriate for the extensive strain sensing of composite components, in terms of performance, cost, ability to be “knitted” in order to form a mesh etc. Additional properties of the metallic “mesh” will be examined, namely the lightning protection features, and specific materials will be selected in order to form the metallic mesh that will be able to simultaneous cover both the sensing and the LSP requirements.
Within WP2 the magnetic flux sensing elements will be developed and optimised. The sensor’s configuration will include an outer coil which generates an altering magnetic field, according to the voltage incoming from a voltage generator, and an inner coil, which is a very sensitive voltage measuring equipment. As a next step, the arrangement of these magnetic flux elements will be performed in an array form, in order to enable quick covering of larger areas. In order to ensure the proper functionality of the array of sensors, the avoidance of EMI/EMC effects between adjacent sensors will be studied, through extensive modelling of magnetic flux sensors, while the appropriate software will be developed, to enable the simultaneous processing and visualization of several magnetic flux measurements.
Within WP3 the numerical simulation of characteristic damage cases will be performed, in order to identify the surface strain profile that they produce. Based on the FEA database produced within this Task, surface strain measurements will be then correlated to internal damage, thus enabling structural health monitoring of components, especially in the case of structural repairs, both for the cases of crack extensions when bonded composite repairs to metallic aircraft structures are applied and in the case of debonding / delaminations.
Within WP4 the appropriate sensing software and algorithms will be developed in order to support the magnetic flux scanning, convert magnetic flux to strain measurements, compare new to previous strain readings and correlate surface strain readings to internal damage, such as debondings, delaminations etc.
Within WP5 the manufacturing of the repair of a component scale demonstrator (damaged stiffened panel with stringers and frames, repaired by a bonded composite patch with embedded MsS) will be performed, for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. A three-dimensional artificial damage, similar to the typical 2bay-crack damage (one stringer broken and the skin cracked on both sides of stringer - half-bay of skin on each side and the central stringer damaged), will be included. Finally, the results achieved within the project, mainly based on the testing of the composite demonstrator, will be considered, in order to evaluate the developed smart maintenance methodology against set criteria.
WP6, will deal with the activities concerning dissemination and exploitation of research results produced within this project, attempting to maximize the knowledge transmitted from this research project to the scientific and the industrial world working on aeronautics. This Work package is considered of top importance, as the overall impact of the project and its effect to the European competitiveness largely depends on it.
The Project Coordinator, GMI, will be mainly responsible for the implementation of WP7, which contains the project management and coordination activities as well as for the prompt periodical reporting towards EU and the “Topic Manager”. Playing a key-role in the project, the Project Coordinator, is responsible for the adequate performance of the required management and coordination activities, as thoroughly described in Section 2 of this proposal.
Project Results:
The Magnetostrictive Sensing System (MSS) will consist of the sensing element (magnetostrictive wires), the transducer and the tracking position system. The transducer is connected to a power supply and a high accuracy multimeter. The tracking position uses an infrared camera, an infrared LED attached to the transducer and a tracking position software. Using this software the sensing area is projected on a 2D screen coordinate, modeled and meshed into clusters. The inspection of each part (cluster) of the area is recorded, using an infrared positioning sensor, transmitting X and Y position data, which is attached to the transducer. When the whole area is inspected, then the operator can proceed with the 2D or 3D visualization of results, which indicate recorded voltage values of the transducer per inspected area, thus providing an overall mapping of the area. The main elements comprising the MSS will cosequenlt be the following:
Grid made from magnetostrictive wires (Sensing element), structurally integrated into the component to be inspected.
Transducer array with attached IR LED, for XY positioning purposes.
Infrared camera, connected to the portable computer, for XY positioning purposes.
Multimeter – data acquisition including multiplexer card (10 channel minimum).
DC Power supply.
Portable computer& operating software which consists of the following functionalities.
Data acquisition.
Tracking transducer's position.
Processing algorithm.
Visualization
Graphic User Interface.
Power supply
The system will be able to measure strain variations over a surface which bears internal damage, in order to detect damage location and size. It should be stressed that the operational principle is based on the measurement of strain variations and their comparison to previous measurements, and not on the measurement of absolute strain values. The operational characteristics of the MSS will be the following:
Measurement range of sensing element’s (strain): 0.0 - 0.3%.
Transducer’s sensitivity >10mVolts, at 0.02% of strain.
Magnetostrictive grid’s thickness: 0.1-0.25 mm.
Form of magnetostrictive material used: wire or ribbon.
Magnetostrictive sensors “pitch” for the formation of the grid: 0.5-3mm.
Fatigue: The MSS should be immune to structural fatigue loading, provided that the bonding of the sensing grid to the parent structure is not degraded.
Stability in time: The system should be able to account for potential drift caused by global change of sensing grid response, by means of special software developed (see Paragraph 5a).
Temperature requirements: The overall MSS should be able to operate (i.e. retrieve measurements) at temperatures ranging from 0 to 40oC.
Humidity requirements: The MMS should be able to operate without environmental humidity restrictions.
Lightning protection requirements: Standard, as currently applicable to aeronautical components, using either the magnetostrictive wires / ribbons as lightning elements, or using a “hybrid” approach, as defined in the MAGNASENSE DoW.
Damage in composite material components can initiate for a variety of reasons including sudden overloads and cyclic fatigue loading. Usually, damage initiates in areas of components where there are anomalies (e.g. dislocations) in the material microstructure and/or geometrical stress concentrations (e.g. fillets, holes). Any damage would cause the cross-sectional area moment of inertia and stiffness (axial, bending, torsional) to change in some way.
More specifically, when the layers of a laminated material component separate, the damaged component reacts in a different way compared to the undamaged part, for the following reason: laminated materials derive bending stiffness from the transfer of shear forces from one layer to the adjacent layers. Therefore, if the layers separate, the bending stiffness is reduced. At the same time, the damping of the material increases at the location of separation, because the material undergoes relatively large motions at that point, increasing the local dissipation of energy.
Within the frame of the MAGNASENSE project, the following typical damage cases will be studied:
“Delaminations” between layers of the composite structure and / or the composite patch.
“Debondings” between the composite repair patch and the parent structure (composite or metallic).
“Separation” between the composite skin and major stiffness elements (e.g. stringers or honeycomb).
“Surface defects” to composite elements, like “scratches”, “gouges”, “dents” and “nicks”.
“Cracks” in case of composite repairs to metallic structures.
According to existing damage acceptance criteria valid in the aeronautical industry, the major characteristic dimensions (e.g. longer axis of ellipse) of typical damage size to be detected will be in the area of one (1) inch (i.e. ~25mm). However, further effort to reduce the minimum detectable damage size by the MSS will be exercised, within the frame of the project, lowering the detectable damage size limit in the area of ~15mm.
Given the types of damage to be detected, as described in above, it is required to use a numerical investigation on the behaviour of the composite in order to identify areas where high stress concentration occurs and, hence, are more prone into failure initiation. These would be the areas of interest during the design of the experimental procedure.
At first, several models, where a flat rectangular panel of composite material (monolithic or sandwich) carries some prefabricated structural defect and repair, will be simulated. In order to achieve a realistic simulation, detailed models will be developed, based on the actual properties of the components materials. On each model an internal damage will be considered in the composite patch, as described in the previous section, and the distribution of stresses as well as the deformation field (strains) on the surface of the patch for each of the cases will be calculated. This will help to understand the effect of the loading environment on strains, stress and failure around the damage and to compare these results with the experimental. It will also help to deduce which is the appropriate loading state and loading direction to reveal emphatically the structural defect of the patch. The results will be used as a guide to determine the optimal characteristics of the magnetostrictive grid (wires/ribbons, pitch, density etc.).
Finally, a numerical model will be constructed according to the geometry and mechanical properties of the panel to be used on the final demonstration. On this model the final estimation and the determination for the experimental design will be performed.
The following general physical and geometrical requirements should be taken into consideration:
The system acts like a surface strain gauge. The damage identification is established by comparing a former state (no damage) to a damaged state. Any discontinuity in the strain field, above the defined threshold, is translated to a possible damage. However, in case of global changes of measured strains, the probability of change of external (e.g. loading) or internal (e.g. drift) conditions will be examined, in order to reduce false alarms. For this reason, a special algorithm will be developed and integrated into the data processing and visualization software. More specifically, the capability of statistical process of retrieved results will be enabled, using the following routines, in a form of “toolbox”, in order to facilitate evaluation of results by the inspector:
(1) Calculation of average value of the retrieved profile of strain changes (or of certain areas of retrieved profile).
(2) Calculation of standard deviation of the retrieved profile of strain changes (or of certain areas of retrieved profile).
(3) Indication of areas located outside average value ± standard deviation, or other predefined value.
An appropriate external load must be applied in order to reveal the damage. It is considered that aircraft “dead loads” (i.e. loads induced to aircraft components when the aircraft is parked on ground) will provide appropriate excitation. As a next step, variable loads achieved on ground (e.g. loads caused by loading / unloading, fuelling / de-fuelling of the aircraft etc.) could be considered.
The spatial resolution is limited by transducer‘s finite size and the sensitivity of the tracking system. At this point the resolution is in the order of 1-2mm.
The composite components to be inspected by the MSS could be flat or slightly curved.
The MSS will be applicable to both composite to composite and composite to metallic repair cases.
The manufacturing of the repair of a component scale demonstrator will be performed, using an ATR existing panel currently available at GMI, for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. This existing panel is a “sandwich” structure (i.e. composite skin / honeycomb core / composite skin) and has overall dimensions 1350mm x 450 mm. A routed area of 50mm, with honeycomb removed all the way to the lower skin, already exists and will be used for repair purposes.
On that panel at least one composite patch repair will be applied, including three artificial damage cases, induced by means of prefabricated (Teflon disks) of 1inch diameter each, to simulate damage between layers of the patch (delamination), between repair patch and the parent structure skin “debonding” and between the patch and the honeycomb “separation”. On the top of the patch repair the sensing magnetostrictive grid will be structurally integrated by means of adhesive bonding. Moreover, “surface defects”, like “scratches”, “gouges”, “dents” and “nicks” will be generated, after the patch application, in order to evaluate the capability of the proposed methodology to trace such damage types. The detailed repair dimensions and location of damage will be defined according to numerical analysis results. The repaired panel will sustain static loads. The goal of the MAGNASENSE project would be to demonstrate capability of measuring strains of the repaired panel with an accuracy of less than 0.02%, correlate surface strain measurements to internal damage and indicate damage intensity and / or propagation through only the health monitoring system. Several measurements per examined case will be performed, in order to evaluate the repeatability of measurements against time, through statistical processing (calculation of average value of measurements, standard deviation etc.). Moreover, repeatability evaluation will include measurements taken after loading/unloading of demonstrator, shut down and restarting of measurement equipment etc.
As a final remark, it should be underlined that the case of tracing damage in a honeycomb panel using MSS is considered more difficult compared to identifying similar damage to a stiffened panel (as described in the MAGNASENSE DoW), due to the steeper strain gradient occurring in the stringers area, caused by stiffness mismatch between skin and stringers. Consequently, in case the technology is successfully demonstrated for honeycomb panels, the stiffened panel case would be considered as covered, as well. However, if difficulties are faced in inspecting honeycomb structures, the stiffened panel case will be experimentally examined, using an appropriate demonstrator to be defined within the course of the project. Additional demonstrator cases, such as bonded composite repairs to metallic structures and/or various LSP/MsS configurations (as developed within the project), could be covered, as well, within the frame of the MAGNASENSE project, as defined at a later stage between the Consortium and the Topic Manager. The following general requirements should also be taken into consideration:
Environmental Requirements: All developments performed within this project should comply with the environmental requirements, as described in the ATR Document “Environmental Requirements for Suppliers”, Identification “NOTE-SG-M-21-11-EN - A.1”, Validated on 03/04/2012.
Safety Requirements: Standard, applied to maintenance hangars and flight line.
MSS operation (inspection) environment: Standard inspection sensing conditions are assumed (clean & controlled air-conditioned environment etc.) There are no restrictions on electricity, water, gas etc but no magnetic materials or strong external magnetic fields should be in the vicinity of the inspection area.
Accessibility: Only one-side access to the sensing area is assumed for MSS inspection purposes.
Personnel training assumptions: Inspection technicians having undergone standard aeronautical training are assumed to be operators of the MSS.
Transportability: All the equipment and tools should be transportable.
Two types of candidate magnetostrictive materials in ribbon form were examined. The purpose of this task is to select the most appropriate material for the extensive strain sensing of composite components, in terms of performance, cost, ability to be “knitted” in order to form a mesh etc.The candidate materials were CoSiB type and FeSiB type.
Apart from the sensing capability, additional properties of the metallic “mesh” will have to be examined within MAGNASENSE, namely the lightning protection features. A specific material will be selected in order to form the metallic mesh that will be able to simultaneous cover both the sensing and the LSP requirements. In case this is not possible for any reason (e.g. in case the MsS wire resistance (R) value is relatively high in order to cover the LSP requirements) a hybrid approach will be adopted, consisting in the development of a mesh with alternating MsS and copper wires, while tailoring the knitting characteristics (pitch etc.) to both the sensing and the LSP requirements.
The two candidate magnetostrictive materials that were examined during the test procedure were
Co78Si7B15 ribbon
Fe78Si7B15 ribbon
Ribbon form materials are easier to be knitted and this is the reason why they are proposed instead of wire form magnetostrictive materials. Moreover, the ribbon layer is expected to have less thickness compared to the wire mesh layer, which forms an additional advantage to the overall methodology. Finally, due to their above physical properties, ribbons are expected to have a better response to the sensing probes allowing for more robust mesh construction compared to wire type MsS, thus making the sensing methodology more reliable.
These materials were chosen as candidates instead of the materials examined within “INDUCER” because they contain all the properties of the previous plus the attribute of a much more uniform electrical output.
The necessary experiments were performed using inductive sensing probes on the magetostrictive ribbon. Two different types of sensors were used:
The first sensing probe is consisted of two coaxial coils. The outer coil generates an alternating magnetic field, according to the voltage incoming from a voltage generator, which produces an electromotive force VEMF to the inner coil, which is then measured by very sensitive voltage measuring equipment. When an electrically conducting or a ferromagnetic material is placed near the probe, a change will occur to the VEMF. The magnitude of this change depends strongly of the object’s electrical conductivity σ and magnetic permeability μ, so it is possible to detect the alteration of the magnetic permeability of MsS ribbons.
The second sensing probe is consisted of a primary coil, stimulated by a sinusoidal alternating voltage in a low frequency regime, causing alternating magnetic flux to circulate through the core (electric steel). This implies an altering voltage (an electromotive force) VEMF to the pickup coil (like a transformer). When this probe is placed above the magnetostrictive material they will form a closed magnetic circuit and the magnetic flux will circulate along a part of the magnetostrictive material. The induced voltage is connected to ribbon’s magnetic permeability μ and cross section, which both change by strain. So by this manner it is possible to detect strain along the ribbon.
It Both ribbon types exhibit a strong change in their magnetic properties versus applied strain, which makes them excellent canditates as strain sensing elements. Both types of ribbons proved to have good response with the coaxial coils sensor. On the other hand, the FeSiB type ribbon did not always have a monotonic response during the test with the U shape electromagnet sensor. This is a big drawback, considering that the main area of interest is the sensing ability of the metallic mesh under strain conditions. For this reason the consortium proposes the use of CoSiB type ribbon that exhibits a monotonic response with both sensor types.Moreover one can also observe that CoSiB type ribbon has better results even at low intensity magnetic fields.
The main concept driving the MAGNASENSE project was to install a network of strain sensing elements (i.e. megnetostrictive ribbons sensors - MsS) at the external surface of a representative aeronautical structure made of composite materials. The inspections of these sensing elements, by means of inductive magnetic flux transducers, were performed to retrieve the “strain signature” of the structures.
At first, our study was focused on monolithic composite structures as a proof of principle operation of our innovative NDT method at laboratory scale. Also, the results of this study have been compiled into a comprehensive library where users can refer to, for cross checking their scanning results (WP 4). The library is provided as part of the built-in documentation of the developed software.
Scratches, dents and delaminations are typical types of damages often encountered in composite structures. The problem of identifying these damages is essentially one of pattern recognition. To achieve a comprehensive survey of the patterns that can be recorded, using our inspection technique on damaged monolithic composites structures, there were manufactured and inspected several composite samples with various types of damages.
These samples were carried out from 10 woven plies carbon/epoxy (160 gr/m2) composite, cured in vacuum at ambient temperature for 24 hours. An 〖[0/90]〗_5 orthotropic laminate was selected for these experiments and the specimens were cut approximately to the size of 6 cm x 30 cm. Various types of damage were introduced to the specimens. On the top surface of the samples it was attached a sensing element patch of CoSiB magnetostrictive ribbons. The specimens were submitted to mechanical loading and inspected through the scanning procedure and software that was developed within this project.
The experiments are divided into five main sections:
In the first group of experiments are included the scanning tests over the surface of a healthy sample. The imaging results of this inspection would be the reference pattern of the healthy state.
The second group includes examples of several damages that concerns edge delaminations. To simulate induced delamination, a Teflon strip was inserted between adjacent layers during the manufacturing of the samples.
The third group includes examples of central delaminations.
In the fourth section were inspected samples with interlaminar damages in carbon fiber polymer-matrix
Finally in the fifth group are included cases of impact damages and scratches.
Since the inspection results in monolith samples were encouraging, we proceeded in the next step of our work. For this purpose our team in cooperation with GMI-Aero's team fabricated and prepared two types of representative components for the demonstration test. The first type involved the surface preparation of an existing aircraft air brake made of honeycomb sandwich while the second component involved anew composite sandwich panel construction made of nomex honeycomb core. In each specimen was developed a typical composite patch repair in compliance with the standards specified in aeronautical industry. Underneath of each patch repair was placed a thin nylon film to fabricate a delamination of dimensions within the permissible limits as defined by the topic manager.
According to the retrieved results, the Magnetostrictive strain sensing methodology developed within the MAGNASENSE project was able to measure strains within the repaired panel rapidly and in a non-contact manner, in order to indicate areas where potential damage existed. As repeatedly emphasized, the success of this technique is based on the comparison and correlation of current results with previous readings, taken from the same part at the same or other loading status. Through the comparison of those readings, the method can provide indications of internal damage, at very low cost, quickly, reliably and in a non-contact manner, regardless of the loading status of the component.
Potential Impact:
Economic growth around the world has led to a continuous increase of air-traffic numbers during the past decades. This increase is expected to continue at an even stronger pace for the next two decades. As the operating fleet grows, the costs and hazard exposure will also increase. Despite the recent difficulties faced by the industry, the market forecast over the next twenty years for commercial aircraft is expected to be of the order of €1.6 Trillion . The Aerospace Market remains a highly competitive one and any aspect of commercial advantage must be sought. MAGNASENSE will address a key element of competitive advantage for the industry, those of aircraft reliability during operation and maintenance costs.
Though well established design and maintenance procedures exist to detect the effect of structural fatigue, new and unexpected phenomena must be addressed by the application of advanced flaw detection methods. Similarly, innovative deployment methods must be developed to overcome a myriad of inspection impediments stemming from accessibility limitations, complex geometries, and the location and depth of hidden flaws. The costs associated with the increasing maintenance and surveillance needs of our aging infrastructure are rising at an unexpected rate. Aircraft maintenance and repairs represent about a quarter of a commercial fleet’s operating costs. The application of distributed sensor systems may reduce these costs by allowing condition based maintenance practices to be substituted for the current time-based maintenance approach. In the near future, it may be possible to quickly, routinely, and remotely monitor the integrity of a structure in service. A series of expected maintenance functions will already be defined, however, they will only be carried out as their need is established by the health monitoring system. Hence, there is a need for reliable structural health monitoring systems that can automatically process data, assess structural condition, and signal the need for human intervention. Prevention of unexpected flaw growth and structural failure could be improved if on-board health monitoring systems exist that could continuously assess structural integrity. Such systems would be able to detect incipient damage before catastrophic failures occur. The replacement of present-day manual inspections with automatic health monitoring would substantially reduce the associated life-cycle costs. Motivated by these pressing needs, considerable research efforts are currently being directed towards the development of health monitoring sensors and systems. Whether the sensor network is hardwired to an accessible location within the aircraft or monitored in a remote, wireless fashion, the sensors can be interrogated in a real-time mode. However, the sensors are most likely examined at discrete intervals; probably at normal maintenance checks. The important item to note is that the ease of monitoring an entire network of distributed sensors means that structural health assessments can occur more often, allowing operators to be even more vigilant with respect to flaw onset.
Replying directly to JTI CfP, the primary drivers for MAGNASENSE relate to safety, economic and societal issues. The application of the proposed advantages to the composite repair process will improve reliability during operation, improve performance and minimise the time the aircraft needs to spend on the ground for inspection and repair, which are among the main targets of the CleanSky JTI. This will permit increased aircraft availability and lower maintenance costs to be incurred by the operating companies. The increase in reliability will lead to a reduction in accidents, loss of life and associated compensation costs resulting from failure of critical aircraft structural components. It is expected that this project will lead to a major change in the development of maintenance procedures for composites, thereby strengthening the EU position within the global Aerospace Market, whilst maintaining the competitive advantage of the EU companies over its US and Japanese rivals, in the field of production, maintenance and repair of composite structures.
It is planned that full industrialization of the results of the project, in terms of application to various composite maintenance procedures, could take place VERY SHORTLY after the end of the project, according to the requirements of the “Topic Manager” and CSJU.
Due to the increased number of “large” composite parts manufactured for modern aircraft (both for fuselage, wing and engine nacelle applications) it is expected that the proposed smart maintenance methodology benefits will have a very wide range of application and, consequently, assist companies using it in achieving very important benefits. This way, EU based manufacturers and repair centers using this technology could enjoy a very important advantage compared to international competition.
Savings Generated as a Result of this Project
a. Reduced Maintenance Costs:
The inspection of aircraft is carried out during periods of maintenance activity. During this period the aircraft is decommissioned from service. For an Airbus A320 minor checks take place every 600 flight hours for the newly manufactured aircraft and every 500 flight hours for the older ones , . Medium planned maintenance normally takes place every 20 months for the new aircraft and every 15 months for the old ones. Major planned maintenance during which the aircraft is taken apart is carried out every 6 years for the new A320 and every 5 years for the old ones2. Major planned maintenance can result in aircraft being taken out of service for well over 30 days2. According to Airbus in the first 5 years of operation an A320 requires 564 man-hours in maintenance, for 10 years of operation 1,344 man-hours and for 12 years of operation 1,981 man-hours. The total average cost of maintenance for an A320 over a period 15 years is €5.2 million, a significant burden for the operating airline. Total maintenance costs for Europe amount to €615 million per year. The successful implementation of the MAGNASENSE project development is expected to reduce these maintenance, repair and inspection costs significantly, through reduction of inspection time, increase of inspection and repair reliability and reduction of time required for the performance of repairs. Finally, potential practical applications of the smart maintenance methodology could concern both the new GRA and SFWA, as well as other aircraft developed by EU manufacturers, leading to significant reduction of maintenance costs and increase of reliability in maintenance.
b. Total economic impact of the project on the aerospace composite repair industry:
The above section has shown that the impact of this project on the aerospace composite repair is considerable. This is quantified in the table below for a period of 4 years after project completion, which shows very conservative estimates.
Table 3.1.1 Total Impact Of Project (Per Annum)
On The Aerospace Composite Repair Industry 4 Years After Project Completion
Contributory factor Sales, service or savings in World Sales, service or savings in EU
Cumulative profits for SMEs from sales of equipment and software for implementation of smart maintenance methodology. Estimated to be
€6m €3m
Savings generated as a result of this project due to reduction of inspection time and increase of reliability of repairs as well as because of reduction in spending on maintenance by airlines and higher aircraft availability Approximately
€40m Approximately €18m
TOTAL €46.0m €21.0m
Contribution to Community Social Objectives
The proposed project will assist in the development of high technology SMEs, where job opportunities will be developed for the industrialization and series production of the projects results, contributing to the renown of European technology and inducing future related research developments. The project is an applied research project with ambition to provide a technology that can be directly industrialized within the JTI and promoted to the worldwide market of aircraft manufacturers and repair stations. It deals with a subject, maintenance of composite parts, which is a challenging issue between Europe and USA. Consequently, the smart maintenance technology to be developed is critical and will be a potential source of knowledge and development for the laboratories involved in the research program. In the field of inspection and maintenance equipment for composites, the suppliers are presently American and European (among them GMI Aero SAS, the SME leading of this project). In providing state of the art techniques to European companies for the years to come, this project will maintain the orientation of airlines and repair stations, including Asian MROs, towards European sources. In particular GMI, being currently leader in its market, will maintain its prominent role in the maintenance equipment and service business and will be equipped with an important tool for further exploitation towards the USA and Asian markets. The same perspective stands for INNO, in the field of sensing applications.
a. Employment prospects and level of skills in the EU
The European aerospace industry directly employs some 429 thousand people whilst the second tier suppliers employ a further 500 thousand people. European industry has taken bold steps to use an increasing amount of advanced aerospace materials in their aircraft structures. Consequently, their aircraft have on average considerably more advanced light-weight materials than US suppliers such as Boeing, making European aircraft significantly lighter than US manufactured aircraft of similar seat capacity. This gives European aircraft manufacturers a considerable competitive advantage over US manufacturers. This advantage is threatened by a loss of confidence in the use of advanced light-weight materials following recent air disasters caused by undetected defects or poor repair techniques in such components. This project will restore confidence in the use of advanced aerospace materials by developing a low cost and faster but at the same time more confident, efficient and easier to implement maintenance technology compared to existing ones, to be used during maintenance operations. This will result in safeguarding and increasing the employment prospects in the European aerospace industry.
b. Life extension of aircraft:
This project will deliver new technology for improving safety and operational capability of aircraft, leading to an increase in operational life. The countries of former Eastern Europe, which have recently entered the EU, have aged aircraft fleets, which include 30-35 year old aircraft. In the absence of efficient maintenance and inspection solutions for their composite parts, these ageing aircraft may need to be decommissioned in the near future, to meet EU safety standards. This will seriously affect the East European airlines that are currently struggling to be competitive and survive in the global market. The EU predicts strong growth in the market which could be exploited by airlines that increase the operational life of their aircraft, whilst meeting EU safety standards, leading to significantly better returns on investment and profitability. MAGNASENSE will contribute to European wide sustainability and growth, particularly enhancing employment prospects in the new Member States.
c. Level of skill in EU:
This project will lead to an improvement in the level of skills for European citizens, as it will implement new smart maintenance technology, with more automated application. This greater level of sophistication represents a step change over current technology, which is based on less efficient and more human dependent methods. The project will develop and sustain EU expertise in these new technologies, particularly in versatile maintenance applications for repaired structures, thick components or parts with complex geometries. As composite maintenance activities are spreading in the world and MRO are now concentrated in several low wage costs countries, it is considered as a “must” to offer to European MROs a premium in technology. An advanced system that gathers innovative solutions and inventions can be an asset to maintain in Europe capability for high added value maintenance and repair projects
d. Environmental impact
Through enabling faster and more reliable application of maintenance procedures, together with life extension of ageing aircraft and reduction of number of de-commissioned parts, greening of aircraft maintenance is achieved, thus helping in reduction of the environmental impact of aviation. Considering that approximately 600kg of CO2 are emitted per kilowatt hour of energy generated by fossil fuels with existing technology, it is calculated that several thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere could be saved for the environment per year, thus directly matching with the targets of the CleanSky JTI and more specifically the GRA-ITD. The environmental benefits are expected to derive mainly from the following factors:
- Reduction of energy required for the performance of the inspection.
- Reduction of energy required for manufacturing of replacement parts.
- Reduction of material wastes disposed to the environment, through minimization of number of rejected parts, as less material consumption will be required (scrapped parts, fasteners, consumables etc.).
Contribution, to the expected impacts listed in the work programme.
There are over 100 airlines in Europe flying a huge variety of aircraft and carrying more than a billion passengers each year . The pan-European character of the industry and the range of aircraft types add to the complexity of the maintenance effort. To summarize, the variety in aircraft types, maintenance schedules and types of operational activity from country-to-country (e.g. from seawater corrosive to sandy abrasive environments) require a trans-national approach to address pan European needs. In particular, the project, apart from the direct contribution to the JTI objectives, could provide the application of smart maintenance and repair of composites expertise to Eastern European airlines, which tend to operate an ageing fleet of aircraft that attract a greater maintenance penalty. A trans-European approach to the project is needed because the technical expertise, convergence of interests and market insights do not reside within one nation. During the project, trans-national co-operation will be needed within the consortium and with related organizations, to deliver the integrated project results. The involvement of three (3) countries, not including the home country of the Topic Manager, will also facilitate European take up of the results during the post-project market launch stage.
a. Trans-national cooperation:
The widespread application of the project’s technology means that all countries will benefit. Manufacturing of composite components, as well as adhesive bonding repair are widely used technologies throughout industry. During and after the project, participants will find other opportunities based on their pooled knowledge for mutually beneficial co-operation on products for other applications and market sectors. For example, the basic principles developed in this project could have an application in the Power Generation (e.g. monitoring and repair of wind turbine blades), Oil & Gas, and marine environments. These applications will drive continuing interaction between SMEs, RTDs, and Large Enterprises, both within and beyond the consortium, contributing to the establishment of the European Research Area.
b. The project contributes to EU policy:
The EU’s horizontal policy of promoting innovation and the participation of SMEs is strongly supported as a result of collaboration between SMEs and RTDs across Europe. The aerospace industry is of vital importance for the growth and stability of the European economy since millions of workers are directly or indirectly dependent on it. European social and economic cohesion will benefit through the technology developed as a step forward in the safety of air-travel. The MAGNASENSE project will enable the aerospace industry to further expand existing standards to address structural composite components. Regulations and Directives supported include:
• To support commission regulation (EC) No. 2042/2003 on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances, and on the approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks.
• To support Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accidents involving dangerous substances.
• To support the “Convention on the trans-boundary effect of industrial accidents”
The Consortium has attempted to give maximum publicity to the project results, of course within the frame of the rules set by the corresponding Consortium Agreement signed among partners and the Implementation Agreement in force between the Topic Manager and the MAGNASENSE Consortium. Two such activities are listed below:
a. Participation to the JTI 13th Call Info Day
Following an invitation by the organization committee, GMI Aero has agreed to participate to the Clean Sky Info Day for Call 13, which took place in Paris on July 6th 2012. Within this Info Day, GMI has been invited to present itself, together with the benefits coming from its participation to the Clean Sky project. Within the presentation prepared, special reference to the MAGNASENSE project has been performed.
b. Participation to the “Composites repair monitoring and validation. Dissemination of innovations and latest achievements to key players of the aeronautical industry – AEROPLAN” project (FP7-AAT-2011-RTD-1 (CSA-SA) 285089).
Two of the MAGNASENSE Consortium partners (GMI Aero and NTUA) are simultaneously participating to the AEROPLAN Coordination and Support Project. Within the frame of this project several dissemination activities are taking place, including the preparation of a book of abstracts (see Annex “A”), together with a website devoted to this project, namely www.aeroplanproject.eu
Moreover, within the frame of the AEROPLAN project, the participation to a major aeronautical event has been achieved for the presentation of the innovations developed within the “AEROPLAN background project”, including MAGNASENSE, namely to the “AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE REPAIR MANAGEMENT FORUM”, organized by the “Aviation Week Magazine”, which took place on October 9th, 2012 at RAI, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Additional MAGNASENSE presentations to scientific conferences have been scheduled for the period after the finalization of the project, when the total of technical results would be available.
The aim of MAGNASENSE project was to develop the appropriate smart maintenance technologies, using magnetostrictive sensors, in order to enable self-sensing of the strain field developed in components manufactured by CFRP. For this reason, an innovative inductive technique based on the inverse magnetostrictive effect was introduced and special tracking/recording software to monitor the structural integrity of composite structures was developed. At the end of the project, a component scale demonstrator was manufactured (damaged stiffened panel repair with a bonded composite patch including embedded MsS), for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. In order to succeed these goals, a five step development process was followed, comprising of:
a. Identification of appropriate strain sensitive magnetic wires (Magnetostrictive Sensor – MsS) to be applied to composite structures.
b. Development of a non-contact magnetic flux sensor arrays for quick scanning and strain mapping of the composite structures.
c. Numerical simulation of arrays of sensing elements, to correlate mechanical to magnetic readings.
d. Development of appropriate algorithms and software supporting the magnetic flux sensing.
e. Manufacturing of component scale demonstrator.
Within MAGNASENSE, a complete operational chain of prototype equipment, software and sensors was attempted to be developed, that enriches the technology fronts in structural health monitoring of CFRP structures. Self sensing of CFRP components is a major step towards improving reliability and performance of aircraft structural elements. The ability to reliably monitor developed strains during or after structural loading will greatly assist in reduction of aircraft weight, through lowering of safety factors, and minimization of aircraft downtime, by increasing inspection speed and enabling prompt isolation and quantification of damaged areas.
Project Context and Objectives:
The aim of MAGNASENSE project was to develop the appropriate smart maintenance technologies, using magnetostrictive sensors, in order to enable self-sensing of the strain field developed in components manufactured by CFRP. For this reason, an innovative inductive technique based on the inverse magnetostrictive effect was introduced and special tracking/recording software to monitor the structural integrity of composite structures was developed. At the end of the project, a component scale demonstrator was manufactured (damaged stiffened panel repair with a bonded composite patch including embedded MsS), for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. In order to succeed these goals, a five step development process was followed, comprising of:
a. Identification of appropriate strain sensitive magnetic wires (Magnetostrictive Sensor – MsS) to be applied to composite structures.
b. Development of a non-contact magnetic flux sensor arrays for quick scanning and strain mapping of the composite structures.
c. Numerical simulation of arrays of sensing elements, to correlate mechanical to magnetic readings.
d. Development of appropriate algorithms and software supporting the magnetic flux sensing.
e. Manufacturing of component scale demonstrator.
Within MAGNASENSE, a complete operational chain of prototype equipment, software and sensors was attempted to be produced, that enriches the technology fronts in structural health monitoring of CFRP structures. Self sensing of CFRP components is a major step towards improving reliability and performance of aircraft structural elements. The ability to reliably monitor developed strains during or after structural loading will greatly assist in reduction of aircraft weight, through lowering of safety factors, and minimization of aircraft downtime, by increasing inspection speed and enabling prompt isolation and quantification of damaged areas.
Within the MAGNASENSE project a special sensing system have been developed, in order to support strain sensing using MsS wires, consisting of
a) An Infrared Camera.
b) A Transducer with an attached infrared led.
c) Voltmeter / Data acquisition system.
d) A Laptop running a special Sensing software.
All the required hardware and software that was developed for the application are combined in a prototype sensing system, whose operation is described below. The data acquisition system is connected to the inductive transducer and also to the computer through a LAN network, in order to measure and store the output data. The data acquisition system records the signal of the transducer converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by the computer. On top of the inductive transducer it has been attached an infrared led in order to be located by the infrared camera. The infrared camera is connected to the computer by a Bluetooth devise, in order to locate the position of the inductive transducer and provide the data to the sensing software. The camera can locate only infrared frequency. That ensures the isolation of the position signal of the transducer from external noise. The Laptop is running prototype sensing software (MagnasenseScanner) that was developed in Visual Studio 2008 environment using C++ programming language. The software uses proper libraries in order to communicate with MATLAB, data acquisition system and Bluetooth device of the camera.
MAGNASENSE Sensing System
The developed software combines the functionality of all hardware devices into a sophisticated sensing system. The innovative feature of this system consists on the technology of optical tracking. The recording of the sensors position occurs by a tracking camera that is placed firmly by the inspector, targeting the inspection area. The tracking camera scans the targeting area and detects the light that comes from the light emitter that is attached over the transducer. Using the developed software the sensing area is projected on a 2D screen coordinate, modeled and meshed into clusters. The inspection of each part (cluster) of the area is recorded transmitting X and Y position data. When the whole area is inspected, the operator can proceed with the 2D or 3D visualization of results, which indicate recorded transducers signal per inspected area, thus providing an overall mapping of the area.
The accuracy of the measurements is enhanced by appropriate filtering algorithms that were developed and incorporated in the software. Polynomial and spline fitting techniques are applied through software’s data analysis to the multidimensional data. These mathematical techniques are appropriately adapted to smooth the data, taking into account the mechanism that generates them. Therefore, an extra median filter is being used taking into account the mutual relationship between neighboring measurements which sharing a common continuum.
Another important tool that has been developed and is included in sensing software package is the image correlation tool. This tool directly provides full-field “strain” signature by comparing the recorded images of the structure surface in the un-deformed (or reference) and deformed states respectively. In principle, this tool is an optical metrology based on digital image processing and numerical computing.
The project results were evaluated mainly based on the testing of the composite demonstrator, in order to assess its applicability and efficiency for aeronautical applications. According to those results, the Magnetostrictive strain sensing methodology developed within the MAGNASENSE project was able to measure strains within the repaired panel rapidly and in a non-contact manner, in order to indicate areas where potential damage existed. As repeatedly emphasized, the success of this technique is based on the comparison and correlation of current results with previous readings, taken from the same part at the same or other loading status. Through the comparison of those readings, the method can provide indications of internal damage, at very low cost, quickly, reliably and in a non-contact manner, regardless of the loading status of the component.
For the achievement of the above mentioned goals, there were five (5) technical Work packages in order to perform the research, development and testing activities of this project, together with two (2) additional Work packages supporting the technical activities, dealing with dissemination of results and project management. More specifically:
Within WP1 the methodology to be followed will be defined in detail. This will include the definition of basic project parameters and constraints, the typical geometrical and material cases to be covered by the methodology, the sensing requirements (strain sensitivity, spatial resolution etc.), etc. Moreover, candidate magnetostrictive materials in a wire form will be examined, in order to select the most appropriate for the extensive strain sensing of composite components, in terms of performance, cost, ability to be “knitted” in order to form a mesh etc. Additional properties of the metallic “mesh” will be examined, namely the lightning protection features, and specific materials will be selected in order to form the metallic mesh that will be able to simultaneous cover both the sensing and the LSP requirements.
Within WP2 the magnetic flux sensing elements will be developed and optimised. The sensor’s configuration will include an outer coil which generates an altering magnetic field, according to the voltage incoming from a voltage generator, and an inner coil, which is a very sensitive voltage measuring equipment. As a next step, the arrangement of these magnetic flux elements will be performed in an array form, in order to enable quick covering of larger areas. In order to ensure the proper functionality of the array of sensors, the avoidance of EMI/EMC effects between adjacent sensors will be studied, through extensive modelling of magnetic flux sensors, while the appropriate software will be developed, to enable the simultaneous processing and visualization of several magnetic flux measurements.
Within WP3 the numerical simulation of characteristic damage cases will be performed, in order to identify the surface strain profile that they produce. Based on the FEA database produced within this Task, surface strain measurements will be then correlated to internal damage, thus enabling structural health monitoring of components, especially in the case of structural repairs, both for the cases of crack extensions when bonded composite repairs to metallic aircraft structures are applied and in the case of debonding / delaminations.
Within WP4 the appropriate sensing software and algorithms will be developed in order to support the magnetic flux scanning, convert magnetic flux to strain measurements, compare new to previous strain readings and correlate surface strain readings to internal damage, such as debondings, delaminations etc.
Within WP5 the manufacturing of the repair of a component scale demonstrator (damaged stiffened panel with stringers and frames, repaired by a bonded composite patch with embedded MsS) will be performed, for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. A three-dimensional artificial damage, similar to the typical 2bay-crack damage (one stringer broken and the skin cracked on both sides of stringer - half-bay of skin on each side and the central stringer damaged), will be included. Finally, the results achieved within the project, mainly based on the testing of the composite demonstrator, will be considered, in order to evaluate the developed smart maintenance methodology against set criteria.
WP6, will deal with the activities concerning dissemination and exploitation of research results produced within this project, attempting to maximize the knowledge transmitted from this research project to the scientific and the industrial world working on aeronautics. This Work package is considered of top importance, as the overall impact of the project and its effect to the European competitiveness largely depends on it.
The Project Coordinator, GMI, will be mainly responsible for the implementation of WP7, which contains the project management and coordination activities as well as for the prompt periodical reporting towards EU and the “Topic Manager”. Playing a key-role in the project, the Project Coordinator, is responsible for the adequate performance of the required management and coordination activities, as thoroughly described in Section 2 of this proposal.
Project Results:
The Magnetostrictive Sensing System (MSS) will consist of the sensing element (magnetostrictive wires), the transducer and the tracking position system. The transducer is connected to a power supply and a high accuracy multimeter. The tracking position uses an infrared camera, an infrared LED attached to the transducer and a tracking position software. Using this software the sensing area is projected on a 2D screen coordinate, modeled and meshed into clusters. The inspection of each part (cluster) of the area is recorded, using an infrared positioning sensor, transmitting X and Y position data, which is attached to the transducer. When the whole area is inspected, then the operator can proceed with the 2D or 3D visualization of results, which indicate recorded voltage values of the transducer per inspected area, thus providing an overall mapping of the area. The main elements comprising the MSS will cosequenlt be the following:
Grid made from magnetostrictive wires (Sensing element), structurally integrated into the component to be inspected.
Transducer array with attached IR LED, for XY positioning purposes.
Infrared camera, connected to the portable computer, for XY positioning purposes.
Multimeter – data acquisition including multiplexer card (10 channel minimum).
DC Power supply.
Portable computer& operating software which consists of the following functionalities.
Data acquisition.
Tracking transducer's position.
Processing algorithm.
Visualization
Graphic User Interface.
Power supply
The system will be able to measure strain variations over a surface which bears internal damage, in order to detect damage location and size. It should be stressed that the operational principle is based on the measurement of strain variations and their comparison to previous measurements, and not on the measurement of absolute strain values. The operational characteristics of the MSS will be the following:
Measurement range of sensing element’s (strain): 0.0 - 0.3%.
Transducer’s sensitivity >10mVolts, at 0.02% of strain.
Magnetostrictive grid’s thickness: 0.1-0.25 mm.
Form of magnetostrictive material used: wire or ribbon.
Magnetostrictive sensors “pitch” for the formation of the grid: 0.5-3mm.
Fatigue: The MSS should be immune to structural fatigue loading, provided that the bonding of the sensing grid to the parent structure is not degraded.
Stability in time: The system should be able to account for potential drift caused by global change of sensing grid response, by means of special software developed (see Paragraph 5a).
Temperature requirements: The overall MSS should be able to operate (i.e. retrieve measurements) at temperatures ranging from 0 to 40oC.
Humidity requirements: The MMS should be able to operate without environmental humidity restrictions.
Lightning protection requirements: Standard, as currently applicable to aeronautical components, using either the magnetostrictive wires / ribbons as lightning elements, or using a “hybrid” approach, as defined in the MAGNASENSE DoW.
Damage in composite material components can initiate for a variety of reasons including sudden overloads and cyclic fatigue loading. Usually, damage initiates in areas of components where there are anomalies (e.g. dislocations) in the material microstructure and/or geometrical stress concentrations (e.g. fillets, holes). Any damage would cause the cross-sectional area moment of inertia and stiffness (axial, bending, torsional) to change in some way.
More specifically, when the layers of a laminated material component separate, the damaged component reacts in a different way compared to the undamaged part, for the following reason: laminated materials derive bending stiffness from the transfer of shear forces from one layer to the adjacent layers. Therefore, if the layers separate, the bending stiffness is reduced. At the same time, the damping of the material increases at the location of separation, because the material undergoes relatively large motions at that point, increasing the local dissipation of energy.
Within the frame of the MAGNASENSE project, the following typical damage cases will be studied:
“Delaminations” between layers of the composite structure and / or the composite patch.
“Debondings” between the composite repair patch and the parent structure (composite or metallic).
“Separation” between the composite skin and major stiffness elements (e.g. stringers or honeycomb).
“Surface defects” to composite elements, like “scratches”, “gouges”, “dents” and “nicks”.
“Cracks” in case of composite repairs to metallic structures.
According to existing damage acceptance criteria valid in the aeronautical industry, the major characteristic dimensions (e.g. longer axis of ellipse) of typical damage size to be detected will be in the area of one (1) inch (i.e. ~25mm). However, further effort to reduce the minimum detectable damage size by the MSS will be exercised, within the frame of the project, lowering the detectable damage size limit in the area of ~15mm.
Given the types of damage to be detected, as described in above, it is required to use a numerical investigation on the behaviour of the composite in order to identify areas where high stress concentration occurs and, hence, are more prone into failure initiation. These would be the areas of interest during the design of the experimental procedure.
At first, several models, where a flat rectangular panel of composite material (monolithic or sandwich) carries some prefabricated structural defect and repair, will be simulated. In order to achieve a realistic simulation, detailed models will be developed, based on the actual properties of the components materials. On each model an internal damage will be considered in the composite patch, as described in the previous section, and the distribution of stresses as well as the deformation field (strains) on the surface of the patch for each of the cases will be calculated. This will help to understand the effect of the loading environment on strains, stress and failure around the damage and to compare these results with the experimental. It will also help to deduce which is the appropriate loading state and loading direction to reveal emphatically the structural defect of the patch. The results will be used as a guide to determine the optimal characteristics of the magnetostrictive grid (wires/ribbons, pitch, density etc.).
Finally, a numerical model will be constructed according to the geometry and mechanical properties of the panel to be used on the final demonstration. On this model the final estimation and the determination for the experimental design will be performed.
The following general physical and geometrical requirements should be taken into consideration:
The system acts like a surface strain gauge. The damage identification is established by comparing a former state (no damage) to a damaged state. Any discontinuity in the strain field, above the defined threshold, is translated to a possible damage. However, in case of global changes of measured strains, the probability of change of external (e.g. loading) or internal (e.g. drift) conditions will be examined, in order to reduce false alarms. For this reason, a special algorithm will be developed and integrated into the data processing and visualization software. More specifically, the capability of statistical process of retrieved results will be enabled, using the following routines, in a form of “toolbox”, in order to facilitate evaluation of results by the inspector:
(1) Calculation of average value of the retrieved profile of strain changes (or of certain areas of retrieved profile).
(2) Calculation of standard deviation of the retrieved profile of strain changes (or of certain areas of retrieved profile).
(3) Indication of areas located outside average value ± standard deviation, or other predefined value.
An appropriate external load must be applied in order to reveal the damage. It is considered that aircraft “dead loads” (i.e. loads induced to aircraft components when the aircraft is parked on ground) will provide appropriate excitation. As a next step, variable loads achieved on ground (e.g. loads caused by loading / unloading, fuelling / de-fuelling of the aircraft etc.) could be considered.
The spatial resolution is limited by transducer‘s finite size and the sensitivity of the tracking system. At this point the resolution is in the order of 1-2mm.
The composite components to be inspected by the MSS could be flat or slightly curved.
The MSS will be applicable to both composite to composite and composite to metallic repair cases.
The manufacturing of the repair of a component scale demonstrator will be performed, using an ATR existing panel currently available at GMI, for the evaluation of the developed smart maintenance methodology. This existing panel is a “sandwich” structure (i.e. composite skin / honeycomb core / composite skin) and has overall dimensions 1350mm x 450 mm. A routed area of 50mm, with honeycomb removed all the way to the lower skin, already exists and will be used for repair purposes.
On that panel at least one composite patch repair will be applied, including three artificial damage cases, induced by means of prefabricated (Teflon disks) of 1inch diameter each, to simulate damage between layers of the patch (delamination), between repair patch and the parent structure skin “debonding” and between the patch and the honeycomb “separation”. On the top of the patch repair the sensing magnetostrictive grid will be structurally integrated by means of adhesive bonding. Moreover, “surface defects”, like “scratches”, “gouges”, “dents” and “nicks” will be generated, after the patch application, in order to evaluate the capability of the proposed methodology to trace such damage types. The detailed repair dimensions and location of damage will be defined according to numerical analysis results. The repaired panel will sustain static loads. The goal of the MAGNASENSE project would be to demonstrate capability of measuring strains of the repaired panel with an accuracy of less than 0.02%, correlate surface strain measurements to internal damage and indicate damage intensity and / or propagation through only the health monitoring system. Several measurements per examined case will be performed, in order to evaluate the repeatability of measurements against time, through statistical processing (calculation of average value of measurements, standard deviation etc.). Moreover, repeatability evaluation will include measurements taken after loading/unloading of demonstrator, shut down and restarting of measurement equipment etc.
As a final remark, it should be underlined that the case of tracing damage in a honeycomb panel using MSS is considered more difficult compared to identifying similar damage to a stiffened panel (as described in the MAGNASENSE DoW), due to the steeper strain gradient occurring in the stringers area, caused by stiffness mismatch between skin and stringers. Consequently, in case the technology is successfully demonstrated for honeycomb panels, the stiffened panel case would be considered as covered, as well. However, if difficulties are faced in inspecting honeycomb structures, the stiffened panel case will be experimentally examined, using an appropriate demonstrator to be defined within the course of the project. Additional demonstrator cases, such as bonded composite repairs to metallic structures and/or various LSP/MsS configurations (as developed within the project), could be covered, as well, within the frame of the MAGNASENSE project, as defined at a later stage between the Consortium and the Topic Manager. The following general requirements should also be taken into consideration:
Environmental Requirements: All developments performed within this project should comply with the environmental requirements, as described in the ATR Document “Environmental Requirements for Suppliers”, Identification “NOTE-SG-M-21-11-EN - A.1”, Validated on 03/04/2012.
Safety Requirements: Standard, applied to maintenance hangars and flight line.
MSS operation (inspection) environment: Standard inspection sensing conditions are assumed (clean & controlled air-conditioned environment etc.) There are no restrictions on electricity, water, gas etc but no magnetic materials or strong external magnetic fields should be in the vicinity of the inspection area.
Accessibility: Only one-side access to the sensing area is assumed for MSS inspection purposes.
Personnel training assumptions: Inspection technicians having undergone standard aeronautical training are assumed to be operators of the MSS.
Transportability: All the equipment and tools should be transportable.
Two types of candidate magnetostrictive materials in ribbon form were examined. The purpose of this task is to select the most appropriate material for the extensive strain sensing of composite components, in terms of performance, cost, ability to be “knitted” in order to form a mesh etc.The candidate materials were CoSiB type and FeSiB type.
Apart from the sensing capability, additional properties of the metallic “mesh” will have to be examined within MAGNASENSE, namely the lightning protection features. A specific material will be selected in order to form the metallic mesh that will be able to simultaneous cover both the sensing and the LSP requirements. In case this is not possible for any reason (e.g. in case the MsS wire resistance (R) value is relatively high in order to cover the LSP requirements) a hybrid approach will be adopted, consisting in the development of a mesh with alternating MsS and copper wires, while tailoring the knitting characteristics (pitch etc.) to both the sensing and the LSP requirements.
The two candidate magnetostrictive materials that were examined during the test procedure were
Co78Si7B15 ribbon
Fe78Si7B15 ribbon
Ribbon form materials are easier to be knitted and this is the reason why they are proposed instead of wire form magnetostrictive materials. Moreover, the ribbon layer is expected to have less thickness compared to the wire mesh layer, which forms an additional advantage to the overall methodology. Finally, due to their above physical properties, ribbons are expected to have a better response to the sensing probes allowing for more robust mesh construction compared to wire type MsS, thus making the sensing methodology more reliable.
These materials were chosen as candidates instead of the materials examined within “INDUCER” because they contain all the properties of the previous plus the attribute of a much more uniform electrical output.
The necessary experiments were performed using inductive sensing probes on the magetostrictive ribbon. Two different types of sensors were used:
The first sensing probe is consisted of two coaxial coils. The outer coil generates an alternating magnetic field, according to the voltage incoming from a voltage generator, which produces an electromotive force VEMF to the inner coil, which is then measured by very sensitive voltage measuring equipment. When an electrically conducting or a ferromagnetic material is placed near the probe, a change will occur to the VEMF. The magnitude of this change depends strongly of the object’s electrical conductivity σ and magnetic permeability μ, so it is possible to detect the alteration of the magnetic permeability of MsS ribbons.
The second sensing probe is consisted of a primary coil, stimulated by a sinusoidal alternating voltage in a low frequency regime, causing alternating magnetic flux to circulate through the core (electric steel). This implies an altering voltage (an electromotive force) VEMF to the pickup coil (like a transformer). When this probe is placed above the magnetostrictive material they will form a closed magnetic circuit and the magnetic flux will circulate along a part of the magnetostrictive material. The induced voltage is connected to ribbon’s magnetic permeability μ and cross section, which both change by strain. So by this manner it is possible to detect strain along the ribbon.
It Both ribbon types exhibit a strong change in their magnetic properties versus applied strain, which makes them excellent canditates as strain sensing elements. Both types of ribbons proved to have good response with the coaxial coils sensor. On the other hand, the FeSiB type ribbon did not always have a monotonic response during the test with the U shape electromagnet sensor. This is a big drawback, considering that the main area of interest is the sensing ability of the metallic mesh under strain conditions. For this reason the consortium proposes the use of CoSiB type ribbon that exhibits a monotonic response with both sensor types.Moreover one can also observe that CoSiB type ribbon has better results even at low intensity magnetic fields.
The main concept driving the MAGNASENSE project was to install a network of strain sensing elements (i.e. megnetostrictive ribbons sensors - MsS) at the external surface of a representative aeronautical structure made of composite materials. The inspections of these sensing elements, by means of inductive magnetic flux transducers, were performed to retrieve the “strain signature” of the structures.
At first, our study was focused on monolithic composite structures as a proof of principle operation of our innovative NDT method at laboratory scale. Also, the results of this study have been compiled into a comprehensive library where users can refer to, for cross checking their scanning results (WP 4). The library is provided as part of the built-in documentation of the developed software.
Scratches, dents and delaminations are typical types of damages often encountered in composite structures. The problem of identifying these damages is essentially one of pattern recognition. To achieve a comprehensive survey of the patterns that can be recorded, using our inspection technique on damaged monolithic composites structures, there were manufactured and inspected several composite samples with various types of damages.
These samples were carried out from 10 woven plies carbon/epoxy (160 gr/m2) composite, cured in vacuum at ambient temperature for 24 hours. An 〖[0/90]〗_5 orthotropic laminate was selected for these experiments and the specimens were cut approximately to the size of 6 cm x 30 cm. Various types of damage were introduced to the specimens. On the top surface of the samples it was attached a sensing element patch of CoSiB magnetostrictive ribbons. The specimens were submitted to mechanical loading and inspected through the scanning procedure and software that was developed within this project.
The experiments are divided into five main sections:
In the first group of experiments are included the scanning tests over the surface of a healthy sample. The imaging results of this inspection would be the reference pattern of the healthy state.
The second group includes examples of several damages that concerns edge delaminations. To simulate induced delamination, a Teflon strip was inserted between adjacent layers during the manufacturing of the samples.
The third group includes examples of central delaminations.
In the fourth section were inspected samples with interlaminar damages in carbon fiber polymer-matrix
Finally in the fifth group are included cases of impact damages and scratches.
Since the inspection results in monolith samples were encouraging, we proceeded in the next step of our work. For this purpose our team in cooperation with GMI-Aero's team fabricated and prepared two types of representative components for the demonstration test. The first type involved the surface preparation of an existing aircraft air brake made of honeycomb sandwich while the second component involved anew composite sandwich panel construction made of nomex honeycomb core. In each specimen was developed a typical composite patch repair in compliance with the standards specified in aeronautical industry. Underneath of each patch repair was placed a thin nylon film to fabricate a delamination of dimensions within the permissible limits as defined by the topic manager.
According to the retrieved results, the Magnetostrictive strain sensing methodology developed within the MAGNASENSE project was able to measure strains within the repaired panel rapidly and in a non-contact manner, in order to indicate areas where potential damage existed. As repeatedly emphasized, the success of this technique is based on the comparison and correlation of current results with previous readings, taken from the same part at the same or other loading status. Through the comparison of those readings, the method can provide indications of internal damage, at very low cost, quickly, reliably and in a non-contact manner, regardless of the loading status of the component.
Potential Impact:
Economic growth around the world has led to a continuous increase of air-traffic numbers during the past decades. This increase is expected to continue at an even stronger pace for the next two decades. As the operating fleet grows, the costs and hazard exposure will also increase. Despite the recent difficulties faced by the industry, the market forecast over the next twenty years for commercial aircraft is expected to be of the order of €1.6 Trillion . The Aerospace Market remains a highly competitive one and any aspect of commercial advantage must be sought. MAGNASENSE will address a key element of competitive advantage for the industry, those of aircraft reliability during operation and maintenance costs.
Though well established design and maintenance procedures exist to detect the effect of structural fatigue, new and unexpected phenomena must be addressed by the application of advanced flaw detection methods. Similarly, innovative deployment methods must be developed to overcome a myriad of inspection impediments stemming from accessibility limitations, complex geometries, and the location and depth of hidden flaws. The costs associated with the increasing maintenance and surveillance needs of our aging infrastructure are rising at an unexpected rate. Aircraft maintenance and repairs represent about a quarter of a commercial fleet’s operating costs. The application of distributed sensor systems may reduce these costs by allowing condition based maintenance practices to be substituted for the current time-based maintenance approach. In the near future, it may be possible to quickly, routinely, and remotely monitor the integrity of a structure in service. A series of expected maintenance functions will already be defined, however, they will only be carried out as their need is established by the health monitoring system. Hence, there is a need for reliable structural health monitoring systems that can automatically process data, assess structural condition, and signal the need for human intervention. Prevention of unexpected flaw growth and structural failure could be improved if on-board health monitoring systems exist that could continuously assess structural integrity. Such systems would be able to detect incipient damage before catastrophic failures occur. The replacement of present-day manual inspections with automatic health monitoring would substantially reduce the associated life-cycle costs. Motivated by these pressing needs, considerable research efforts are currently being directed towards the development of health monitoring sensors and systems. Whether the sensor network is hardwired to an accessible location within the aircraft or monitored in a remote, wireless fashion, the sensors can be interrogated in a real-time mode. However, the sensors are most likely examined at discrete intervals; probably at normal maintenance checks. The important item to note is that the ease of monitoring an entire network of distributed sensors means that structural health assessments can occur more often, allowing operators to be even more vigilant with respect to flaw onset.
Replying directly to JTI CfP, the primary drivers for MAGNASENSE relate to safety, economic and societal issues. The application of the proposed advantages to the composite repair process will improve reliability during operation, improve performance and minimise the time the aircraft needs to spend on the ground for inspection and repair, which are among the main targets of the CleanSky JTI. This will permit increased aircraft availability and lower maintenance costs to be incurred by the operating companies. The increase in reliability will lead to a reduction in accidents, loss of life and associated compensation costs resulting from failure of critical aircraft structural components. It is expected that this project will lead to a major change in the development of maintenance procedures for composites, thereby strengthening the EU position within the global Aerospace Market, whilst maintaining the competitive advantage of the EU companies over its US and Japanese rivals, in the field of production, maintenance and repair of composite structures.
It is planned that full industrialization of the results of the project, in terms of application to various composite maintenance procedures, could take place VERY SHORTLY after the end of the project, according to the requirements of the “Topic Manager” and CSJU.
Due to the increased number of “large” composite parts manufactured for modern aircraft (both for fuselage, wing and engine nacelle applications) it is expected that the proposed smart maintenance methodology benefits will have a very wide range of application and, consequently, assist companies using it in achieving very important benefits. This way, EU based manufacturers and repair centers using this technology could enjoy a very important advantage compared to international competition.
Savings Generated as a Result of this Project
a. Reduced Maintenance Costs:
The inspection of aircraft is carried out during periods of maintenance activity. During this period the aircraft is decommissioned from service. For an Airbus A320 minor checks take place every 600 flight hours for the newly manufactured aircraft and every 500 flight hours for the older ones , . Medium planned maintenance normally takes place every 20 months for the new aircraft and every 15 months for the old ones. Major planned maintenance during which the aircraft is taken apart is carried out every 6 years for the new A320 and every 5 years for the old ones2. Major planned maintenance can result in aircraft being taken out of service for well over 30 days2. According to Airbus in the first 5 years of operation an A320 requires 564 man-hours in maintenance, for 10 years of operation 1,344 man-hours and for 12 years of operation 1,981 man-hours. The total average cost of maintenance for an A320 over a period 15 years is €5.2 million, a significant burden for the operating airline. Total maintenance costs for Europe amount to €615 million per year. The successful implementation of the MAGNASENSE project development is expected to reduce these maintenance, repair and inspection costs significantly, through reduction of inspection time, increase of inspection and repair reliability and reduction of time required for the performance of repairs. Finally, potential practical applications of the smart maintenance methodology could concern both the new GRA and SFWA, as well as other aircraft developed by EU manufacturers, leading to significant reduction of maintenance costs and increase of reliability in maintenance.
b. Total economic impact of the project on the aerospace composite repair industry:
The above section has shown that the impact of this project on the aerospace composite repair is considerable. This is quantified in the table below for a period of 4 years after project completion, which shows very conservative estimates.
Table 3.1.1 Total Impact Of Project (Per Annum)
On The Aerospace Composite Repair Industry 4 Years After Project Completion
Contributory factor Sales, service or savings in World Sales, service or savings in EU
Cumulative profits for SMEs from sales of equipment and software for implementation of smart maintenance methodology. Estimated to be
€6m €3m
Savings generated as a result of this project due to reduction of inspection time and increase of reliability of repairs as well as because of reduction in spending on maintenance by airlines and higher aircraft availability Approximately
€40m Approximately €18m
TOTAL €46.0m €21.0m
Contribution to Community Social Objectives
The proposed project will assist in the development of high technology SMEs, where job opportunities will be developed for the industrialization and series production of the projects results, contributing to the renown of European technology and inducing future related research developments. The project is an applied research project with ambition to provide a technology that can be directly industrialized within the JTI and promoted to the worldwide market of aircraft manufacturers and repair stations. It deals with a subject, maintenance of composite parts, which is a challenging issue between Europe and USA. Consequently, the smart maintenance technology to be developed is critical and will be a potential source of knowledge and development for the laboratories involved in the research program. In the field of inspection and maintenance equipment for composites, the suppliers are presently American and European (among them GMI Aero SAS, the SME leading of this project). In providing state of the art techniques to European companies for the years to come, this project will maintain the orientation of airlines and repair stations, including Asian MROs, towards European sources. In particular GMI, being currently leader in its market, will maintain its prominent role in the maintenance equipment and service business and will be equipped with an important tool for further exploitation towards the USA and Asian markets. The same perspective stands for INNO, in the field of sensing applications.
a. Employment prospects and level of skills in the EU
The European aerospace industry directly employs some 429 thousand people whilst the second tier suppliers employ a further 500 thousand people. European industry has taken bold steps to use an increasing amount of advanced aerospace materials in their aircraft structures. Consequently, their aircraft have on average considerably more advanced light-weight materials than US suppliers such as Boeing, making European aircraft significantly lighter than US manufactured aircraft of similar seat capacity. This gives European aircraft manufacturers a considerable competitive advantage over US manufacturers. This advantage is threatened by a loss of confidence in the use of advanced light-weight materials following recent air disasters caused by undetected defects or poor repair techniques in such components. This project will restore confidence in the use of advanced aerospace materials by developing a low cost and faster but at the same time more confident, efficient and easier to implement maintenance technology compared to existing ones, to be used during maintenance operations. This will result in safeguarding and increasing the employment prospects in the European aerospace industry.
b. Life extension of aircraft:
This project will deliver new technology for improving safety and operational capability of aircraft, leading to an increase in operational life. The countries of former Eastern Europe, which have recently entered the EU, have aged aircraft fleets, which include 30-35 year old aircraft. In the absence of efficient maintenance and inspection solutions for their composite parts, these ageing aircraft may need to be decommissioned in the near future, to meet EU safety standards. This will seriously affect the East European airlines that are currently struggling to be competitive and survive in the global market. The EU predicts strong growth in the market which could be exploited by airlines that increase the operational life of their aircraft, whilst meeting EU safety standards, leading to significantly better returns on investment and profitability. MAGNASENSE will contribute to European wide sustainability and growth, particularly enhancing employment prospects in the new Member States.
c. Level of skill in EU:
This project will lead to an improvement in the level of skills for European citizens, as it will implement new smart maintenance technology, with more automated application. This greater level of sophistication represents a step change over current technology, which is based on less efficient and more human dependent methods. The project will develop and sustain EU expertise in these new technologies, particularly in versatile maintenance applications for repaired structures, thick components or parts with complex geometries. As composite maintenance activities are spreading in the world and MRO are now concentrated in several low wage costs countries, it is considered as a “must” to offer to European MROs a premium in technology. An advanced system that gathers innovative solutions and inventions can be an asset to maintain in Europe capability for high added value maintenance and repair projects
d. Environmental impact
Through enabling faster and more reliable application of maintenance procedures, together with life extension of ageing aircraft and reduction of number of de-commissioned parts, greening of aircraft maintenance is achieved, thus helping in reduction of the environmental impact of aviation. Considering that approximately 600kg of CO2 are emitted per kilowatt hour of energy generated by fossil fuels with existing technology, it is calculated that several thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere could be saved for the environment per year, thus directly matching with the targets of the CleanSky JTI and more specifically the GRA-ITD. The environmental benefits are expected to derive mainly from the following factors:
- Reduction of energy required for the performance of the inspection.
- Reduction of energy required for manufacturing of replacement parts.
- Reduction of material wastes disposed to the environment, through minimization of number of rejected parts, as less material consumption will be required (scrapped parts, fasteners, consumables etc.).
Contribution, to the expected impacts listed in the work programme.
There are over 100 airlines in Europe flying a huge variety of aircraft and carrying more than a billion passengers each year . The pan-European character of the industry and the range of aircraft types add to the complexity of the maintenance effort. To summarize, the variety in aircraft types, maintenance schedules and types of operational activity from country-to-country (e.g. from seawater corrosive to sandy abrasive environments) require a trans-national approach to address pan European needs. In particular, the project, apart from the direct contribution to the JTI objectives, could provide the application of smart maintenance and repair of composites expertise to Eastern European airlines, which tend to operate an ageing fleet of aircraft that attract a greater maintenance penalty. A trans-European approach to the project is needed because the technical expertise, convergence of interests and market insights do not reside within one nation. During the project, trans-national co-operation will be needed within the consortium and with related organizations, to deliver the integrated project results. The involvement of three (3) countries, not including the home country of the Topic Manager, will also facilitate European take up of the results during the post-project market launch stage.
a. Trans-national cooperation:
The widespread application of the project’s technology means that all countries will benefit. Manufacturing of composite components, as well as adhesive bonding repair are widely used technologies throughout industry. During and after the project, participants will find other opportunities based on their pooled knowledge for mutually beneficial co-operation on products for other applications and market sectors. For example, the basic principles developed in this project could have an application in the Power Generation (e.g. monitoring and repair of wind turbine blades), Oil & Gas, and marine environments. These applications will drive continuing interaction between SMEs, RTDs, and Large Enterprises, both within and beyond the consortium, contributing to the establishment of the European Research Area.
b. The project contributes to EU policy:
The EU’s horizontal policy of promoting innovation and the participation of SMEs is strongly supported as a result of collaboration between SMEs and RTDs across Europe. The aerospace industry is of vital importance for the growth and stability of the European economy since millions of workers are directly or indirectly dependent on it. European social and economic cohesion will benefit through the technology developed as a step forward in the safety of air-travel. The MAGNASENSE project will enable the aerospace industry to further expand existing standards to address structural composite components. Regulations and Directives supported include:
• To support commission regulation (EC) No. 2042/2003 on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances, and on the approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks.
• To support Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accidents involving dangerous substances.
• To support the “Convention on the trans-boundary effect of industrial accidents”
The Consortium has attempted to give maximum publicity to the project results, of course within the frame of the rules set by the corresponding Consortium Agreement signed among partners and the Implementation Agreement in force between the Topic Manager and the MAGNASENSE Consortium. Two such activities are listed below:
a. Participation to the JTI 13th Call Info Day
Following an invitation by the organization committee, GMI Aero has agreed to participate to the Clean Sky Info Day for Call 13, which took place in Paris on July 6th 2012. Within this Info Day, GMI has been invited to present itself, together with the benefits coming from its participation to the Clean Sky project. Within the presentation prepared, special reference to the MAGNASENSE project has been performed.
b. Participation to the “Composites repair monitoring and validation. Dissemination of innovations and latest achievements to key players of the aeronautical industry – AEROPLAN” project (FP7-AAT-2011-RTD-1 (CSA-SA) 285089).
Two of the MAGNASENSE Consortium partners (GMI Aero and NTUA) are simultaneously participating to the AEROPLAN Coordination and Support Project. Within the frame of this project several dissemination activities are taking place, including the preparation of a book of abstracts (see Annex “A”), together with a website devoted to this project, namely www.aeroplanproject.eu
Moreover, within the frame of the AEROPLAN project, the participation to a major aeronautical event has been achieved for the presentation of the innovations developed within the “AEROPLAN background project”, including MAGNASENSE, namely to the “AIRCRAFT COMPOSITE REPAIR MANAGEMENT FORUM”, organized by the “Aviation Week Magazine”, which took place on October 9th, 2012 at RAI, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Additional MAGNASENSE presentations to scientific conferences have been scheduled for the period after the finalization of the project, when the total of technical results would be available.
