Wheatley, G., and Kollgaard, J.R. (2003) Automated detection of fatigue cracks in the laboratory and on flying aircraft. Materials Evaluation, 61 (7). pp. 848-851.

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Abstract

Current aircraft maintenance operations require personnel entry into inaccessible or hazardous areas to perform certain mandated nondestructive testing. To perform these tests and gain access, the structure must be removed, sealant removed and restored, fuel cells vented to a safe condition and so on. There is a clear need for an automated test method that can be conducted with personnel remote to the test area and does not involve any decline in accuracy. Tests of the comparative vacuum monitoring system for the detection and monitoring of growing cracks are currently being conducted. Initial testing has been performed, with further laboratory tests to follow. One of the test situations involved dog bone specimen halves joined with a splice plate. The comparative vacuum monitoring sensors are slightly over 0.1 mm (4 x 10(-3) in.) thick and were installed directly upon the faying surface of the dog bone specimen. The aim of the experiment was for comparative vacuum monitoring to detect a crack on the faying surface of the specimens at a length of 1.27 +/- 0.25 mm (0.05 +/- 0.01 in.). This was accomplished successfully. This paper will also briefly outline current comparative vacuum monitoring on aircraft installations and comparative vacuum monitoring technology in general.

Item ID:	58786
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0025-5327
Copyright Information:	Copyright © 2003 The American Society for Nondestructive Testing, Inc.
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2019 03:48
FoR Codes:	09 ENGINEERING > 0901 Aerospace Engineering > 090199 Aerospace Engineering not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	88 TRANSPORT > 8803 Aerospace Transport > 880399 Aerospace Transport not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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