Feasibility Study of Damage Monitoring System using PZT Actuator/FBG Sensor for New Generation Aircraft

摘要

This paper presents a feasibility study of a damage monitoring system using PZT actuators/FBG sensors for advanced composite material structures of new-generation aircrafts. To achieve weight reduction of the aircraft structure, these advanced composite materials have gradually been employed for the primary structure. It is expected that when these materials will be extensively employed, an efficient bonded structure such as a "hat-shaped stringer" will be utilized for the aircraft structure. However, these bonded structures have critical problems such as debonding and delamination at the interfaces of the laminate. On the other hand, when the main/tail wing section is designed with composite materials, a single-step molding process of the structure element is necessary in order to ensure low cost and affordability. However, this low cost process results in an increase in the non-destructive inspection (NDI) cost. Therefore, an innovative damage monitoring system is required for structural health management. The authors are developing a hybrid sensing system that can detect an elastic wave from a PZT actuator, using a high-speed and high-accuracy FBG sensor for active damage sensing. In this paper, the concept design of the main/tail wing box structure using this system is presented. The effectiveness of the system for aircraft structures is also discussed.