The EU is a world leader in the transport industry, with the aeronautical sector alone providing more than 500,000 jobs and generating a turnover of EUR 140 billion annually. Development of structural safety technologies have always been of paramount importance for Europe. With regard to the aeronautical sector, approximately 1.3 billion passengers fly around the globe every year, rendering aviation safety a major societal challenge worldwide. Flightpath 2050 sets out a vision for a future aerospace industry placing airworthiness at the heart of technology developments in order to keep Europe competitive in this strategically important global industry.
Modern industrial structures are increasingly made of composite layered materials due to their well-known benefits. The usage of composite structures however implies a greater range of possible structural failure modes for which the structure has to be frequently and thoroughly inspected. For instance, approximately 27% of an average modern aircraft’s lifecycle cost is spent on inspection and repair . The use of ‘offline’ structural inspection techniques currently leads to a massive reduction of the product’s availability and significant financial losses for the operator. Ultrasonic Guided Waves (UGWs) have exhibited strong potential for detecting damage signatures in composite structures, however understanding UGW interaction with realistic nonlinear damage scenarios is still a fundamental technological and scientific issue which remains unresolved. UltraSafe will bring together an ER being expert in ‘linear and nonlinear wave propagation’ and a host institution carrying leading academic know-how in ‘damage modelling in layered composites' in order to develop the next generation of ‘online’, fast and robust damage identification tools for industrial composite structures.
