Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NDTonAIR (NDTonAIR: Training Network in Non-Destructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring ofAircraft structures)
Período documentado: 2018-10-01 hasta 2020-09-30
The NDTonAIR was a European Training Network (ETN) funded in the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN actions
ETNs drive scientific excellence and innovation bringing together universities, research institutes, and other sectors to train Early Stage Researchers – ESRs - and help them gain experience of different working environments.
The NDTonAIR consortium was formed by universities, research centres, and companies that worked together on innovative nondestructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies.
NDT and SHM are multi- and inter-disciplinary applied fields of engineering sciences that concern the inspection, characterization and quantification of the “quality” of materials and industrial goods and of the health of engineering structures. NDT and SHM include many techniques that allow the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of a material, component or structure, without causing damage. Application of NDE techniques is necessary to explain or prevent failures that cause or could cause economic losses and, above all, hazards for people.
NDTonAIR aimed to train a new generation of scientists having a wide background in NDE, able to develop their activities both in academy and industry and playing an active role in promoting the importance of NDE. The research and training activities focused on NDE for aerospace in general and aircraft in particular.
The long-term objective of NDTonAIR is to contribute to the EU competitiveness and innovation in aircraft production and in many other industrial and civil sectors by developing new techniques and sensors to face key problems in NDT and SHM and by improving existing NDE techniques. This goal was pursued by offering a coordinated and innovative training & research program for ESRs.
The training consisted of lessons and workshops organized by the consortium together with individual research training developed at the recruiting institutions and at other NDTonAIR members.
Most of the ESRs were also enrolled in PhD schools and at the time of writing 4 ESRs were already awarded a PhD while many others are close to complete their programs.
Training and research programs were combined to create a stimulating environment and a unique opportunity for the ESRs’ career development perspectives.
The networking aspect was a key feature of the NDTonAIR project, the strong interaction originated within the project enhanced the process, in many cases by combining expertise in new ways to improve standard techniques or solving critical key issues.
During these years, the project reached important results.
Many of them were published in international journals, and some of these results are currently being evaluated for technology transfer initiatives or commercial applications.
At the same time, the ESRs greatly enriched their research and complementary skills. Many ESRs prosecuted their research activity within the consortium. Some others were selected for new positions in universities, research centres, and companies related to NDT, SHM, or aerospace.
ETNs drive scientific excellence and innovation bringing together universities, research institutes, and other sectors to train Early Stage Researchers – ESRs - and help them gain experience of different working environments.
The NDTonAIR consortium was formed by universities, research centres, and companies that worked together on innovative nondestructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies.
NDT and SHM are multi- and inter-disciplinary applied fields of engineering sciences that concern the inspection, characterization and quantification of the “quality” of materials and industrial goods and of the health of engineering structures. NDT and SHM include many techniques that allow the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of a material, component or structure, without causing damage. Application of NDE techniques is necessary to explain or prevent failures that cause or could cause economic losses and, above all, hazards for people.
NDTonAIR aimed to train a new generation of scientists having a wide background in NDE, able to develop their activities both in academy and industry and playing an active role in promoting the importance of NDE. The research and training activities focused on NDE for aerospace in general and aircraft in particular.
The long-term objective of NDTonAIR is to contribute to the EU competitiveness and innovation in aircraft production and in many other industrial and civil sectors by developing new techniques and sensors to face key problems in NDT and SHM and by improving existing NDE techniques. This goal was pursued by offering a coordinated and innovative training & research program for ESRs.
The training consisted of lessons and workshops organized by the consortium together with individual research training developed at the recruiting institutions and at other NDTonAIR members.
Most of the ESRs were also enrolled in PhD schools and at the time of writing 4 ESRs were already awarded a PhD while many others are close to complete their programs.
Training and research programs were combined to create a stimulating environment and a unique opportunity for the ESRs’ career development perspectives.
The networking aspect was a key feature of the NDTonAIR project, the strong interaction originated within the project enhanced the process, in many cases by combining expertise in new ways to improve standard techniques or solving critical key issues.
During these years, the project reached important results.
Many of them were published in international journals, and some of these results are currently being evaluated for technology transfer initiatives or commercial applications.
At the same time, the ESRs greatly enriched their research and complementary skills. Many ESRs prosecuted their research activity within the consortium. Some others were selected for new positions in universities, research centres, and companies related to NDT, SHM, or aerospace.
During the project, 8 scientific and technical schools, 4 workshops, and 1 conference were organized by the consortium, in 7 different EU countries, see pictures from 1 to 9 and the project website.
Besides the ESRs, many EU and extra-EU PhD students and researchers from academia and industry joined these events as speakers or as attendees.
To disseminate the project results, NDTonAIR organized 5 special sessions at international conferences: @8th EASN-CEAS International Workshop 4-7 Sept. 2018; @ 10th International Symposium on NDT in Aerospace, 24-26 Oct. 2018; @ the 9th EASN Int. Conference 3-6 Sept. 2019, @ TRA2020 Transport & Research Arena – webinar on 10 June 2020, @ 10th EASN virtual Int. Conference, 2-4 Sept. 2020.
NDTonAIR members participated also at many international conferences presenting the results of the project and the consortium established interactions with other EU and extra EU projects and associations working on NDT and SHM (e.g. the ITN SAFE-FLY, the RCNDE UK centre, the oNDuTy! Canadian training network, national NDT societies)
NDTonAIR project took part at the European Researchers’ Night 2018 within the event “Great North Nights: Planet 2.0” at the Great North Museum Hancock- Newcastle and the 2019 edition within the event “SHARPER” held at the University of Perugia.
Concerning research, the ESRs developed their research projects at the recruiting institutions and completed also 35 secondment periods at other NDTonAIR members for collaborating in research.
From the results of these activities >50 articles were published in international journals or in conference proceedings, and several are currently under evaluation. In a large part of them, collaborations between two or more ESRs and consortium members are reported paving the way for further synergies in research and training in the next years.
NDTonAIR consortium promoted also a special issue on a scientific international journal to further disseminate the project results.
Besides the ESRs, many EU and extra-EU PhD students and researchers from academia and industry joined these events as speakers or as attendees.
To disseminate the project results, NDTonAIR organized 5 special sessions at international conferences: @8th EASN-CEAS International Workshop 4-7 Sept. 2018; @ 10th International Symposium on NDT in Aerospace, 24-26 Oct. 2018; @ the 9th EASN Int. Conference 3-6 Sept. 2019, @ TRA2020 Transport & Research Arena – webinar on 10 June 2020, @ 10th EASN virtual Int. Conference, 2-4 Sept. 2020.
NDTonAIR members participated also at many international conferences presenting the results of the project and the consortium established interactions with other EU and extra EU projects and associations working on NDT and SHM (e.g. the ITN SAFE-FLY, the RCNDE UK centre, the oNDuTy! Canadian training network, national NDT societies)
NDTonAIR project took part at the European Researchers’ Night 2018 within the event “Great North Nights: Planet 2.0” at the Great North Museum Hancock- Newcastle and the 2019 edition within the event “SHARPER” held at the University of Perugia.
Concerning research, the ESRs developed their research projects at the recruiting institutions and completed also 35 secondment periods at other NDTonAIR members for collaborating in research.
From the results of these activities >50 articles were published in international journals or in conference proceedings, and several are currently under evaluation. In a large part of them, collaborations between two or more ESRs and consortium members are reported paving the way for further synergies in research and training in the next years.
NDTonAIR consortium promoted also a special issue on a scientific international journal to further disseminate the project results.
The potential impact of the project results is relevant: safety in the aerospace sector is of utmost importance not only in air transportation but also in the total supply chain. Hence, NDT plays a crucial role in the achievement of the aerospace industry design targets. The EU aviation and space industry competes for the sector leadership and innovation in NDT and SHM is a key ingredient for have success in this competition.
Further, the 21st-century industries continuously adopt new materials and design methods to face ever more challenges. Research in NDE is thus a key ingredient for the safe and sustainable future of many sectors of the EU industry.
During the project new SHM protocols were developed to face relevant issues in aircraft maintenance —acoustic emission procedures combined with the use of percolation sensors were developed to detect ice and water in fuel tanks as well in composites parts. The early detection of such unwanted events increases safety and it reduces repair costs and avoidable downtimes. The achieved results were promising so that their commercial exploitation is under evaluation.
Besides this, many other results were achieved.
The mode-selective generation of guided waves for SHM and NDT was made possible through new sensors’ design or optimization of existing ones. Such devices enhanced the performance of guided waves NDE techniques which are the key ones to rapidly inspect large structures such as aircraft, pipelines, bridges, rails, etc. Progresses in these sectors may have a huge socio-economic impact.
Several methods for the evaluation of the quality of composites and metallic materials were implemented and optimized. Bonding quality, delamination, impact damages, open and closed cracks, fatigue, and residual stress; all these problems were faced by comparing, optimizing, and fusing ultrasonic, optical, electromagnetic (eddy current & capacitive imaging), and thermography techniques. Innovative imaging procedures, signal and image processing strategies, feature extraction protocols, and machine learning approaches were developed and used for this aim.
Semi-analytic and numerical models for the simulation of the electromagnetic and thermal behaviour of carbon-fibre based composites were also realized for improving simulation-assisted NDT, which is in many cases the only way to quantitatively evaluate defects.
Further, the 21st-century industries continuously adopt new materials and design methods to face ever more challenges. Research in NDE is thus a key ingredient for the safe and sustainable future of many sectors of the EU industry.
During the project new SHM protocols were developed to face relevant issues in aircraft maintenance —acoustic emission procedures combined with the use of percolation sensors were developed to detect ice and water in fuel tanks as well in composites parts. The early detection of such unwanted events increases safety and it reduces repair costs and avoidable downtimes. The achieved results were promising so that their commercial exploitation is under evaluation.
Besides this, many other results were achieved.
The mode-selective generation of guided waves for SHM and NDT was made possible through new sensors’ design or optimization of existing ones. Such devices enhanced the performance of guided waves NDE techniques which are the key ones to rapidly inspect large structures such as aircraft, pipelines, bridges, rails, etc. Progresses in these sectors may have a huge socio-economic impact.
Several methods for the evaluation of the quality of composites and metallic materials were implemented and optimized. Bonding quality, delamination, impact damages, open and closed cracks, fatigue, and residual stress; all these problems were faced by comparing, optimizing, and fusing ultrasonic, optical, electromagnetic (eddy current & capacitive imaging), and thermography techniques. Innovative imaging procedures, signal and image processing strategies, feature extraction protocols, and machine learning approaches were developed and used for this aim.
Semi-analytic and numerical models for the simulation of the electromagnetic and thermal behaviour of carbon-fibre based composites were also realized for improving simulation-assisted NDT, which is in many cases the only way to quantitatively evaluate defects.