Integration and test of piezocomposite sensors for structure health monitoring in aerospace

Abstract

The paper presents an innovative approach for Structure Health Monitoring utilizing piezocomposite plates as active sensors. The present work is motivated by the increasing interest in reduction of maintenance costs for aircrafts, which can be achieved by implementing self-sufficient sensor networks into the aircraft to predict risk states and prevent structural failures. These networks could supplement and possibly replace the expensive maintenance inspections. Piezoelectric materials have recently been under a rapid development, have been utilized in various fields of industry and due to their inexpensive and robust nature they can be used as sensors in non-intrusive Structure Health Monitoring networks. The presented approach uses piezocomposite sensors embedded into the structure of a small civil aircraft to directly measure structural vibrations. The functionality of the entire measurement chain was tested during an experimental flight, the acquired data will be used for further research of data-processing, impact detection and structure health prediction.