The Structures Division at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) continues to support capital investment in enabling technologies for sustainment of our aircraft which will lower total life cycle costs, ensure safety, and increase operational readiness. This paper presents a general overview of the major improvements which have been made in the area of Structural Health and Usage Management (SHUM), including: usage severity monitoring via regime recognition (RR), gross weight and center of gravity (GW/CG) estimation, local/global damage detection, environmental effects monitoring, damage alleviation, prognostication, and individual asset/component tracking (IAT). Advances in structural analyses have been made in the accuracy of predicted rotorcraft loads using coupled rotor and fuselage interactions. Innovative approaches to fatigue testing at both the component and full scale airframe levels will allow for more accurate introduction of vibratory loading content from operation, reveal failure modes, and improve fatigue life predictions. Additive manufacturing (AM) of fly-away aircraft parts and the standardization of cold spray repair applications present unique qualification challenges and benefits to the warfighter.
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