Objective
The objective of the proposed research is to achieve a leap improvement in aircraft reliability through the application of smart materials. There exists an acute need to develop the capability to monitor aircraft structural health in real-time, in a reliable manner. Real-time structural health monitoring will not only improve the overall safety but will also made it possible to replace Corrective or Preventive maintenance modes with much more efficient Predictive or Proactive maintenance procedures- thus reducing the associated cost. Similarly, vibrations and noise levels are still to high in certain aircraft. Systems based on smart materials defined as solid state actuators activated by external fields, e.g. electric or magnetic, can address all these factors. Smart materials have already reached a sufficient level of maturity to benefit from their unique characteristics not only in laboratory but also in an industrial environment. No moving parts, the ease of integration with metallic and composite structures and the capability to provide distributed actuation are among their most important characteristics. This project will take advantage on an extensive body of knowledge accumulated during nearly two decades of development of smart materials and their applications. The proposed project will give a final push to produce realistic industrial solutions for real- time structural health monitoring and aircraft vibrations reduction. The most promising methods will be tested on large-scale specimens, such as a portion of a commuter aircraft fuselage. Project goals will be achieved by a network consisting of several production companies, research institutes and universities. The know-how developed as a part of this project is ideal to stimulate creation and development of small, high-tech enterprises.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP6-2002-AERO-1
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinator
MINANO (ALAVA)
Spain