Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

This book is going to determine flexible and cost-effective maintenance schedule for aircraft structures particular in composite airframes. By applying an intelligent rating system, the back-propagation network (BPN) method, and FTA technique, a new approach was created with a powerful learning ability and a flexible data fusion capability, to assist in determining inspection intervals for new aircraft structures, especially in composite structure. Also, this book discusses the influence of Structure Health Monitoring (SHM) on scheduled maintenance. An integrated logic diagram was established incorporating SHM into the current MSG-3 structural analysis, based on which four maintenance scenarios with gradual increasing maturity levels of SHM were analyzed. The inspection intervals and the repair thresholds are adjusted according to different combinations of SHM tasks and scheduled maintenance. This book provides a practical means for aircraft manufacturers and operators to consider the feasibility of SHM by examining labor work reduction, structural reliability variation as well as maintenance cost savings. Finally, A380 Reliability and Maintainability program, as an example, is explained in this book.