New Method Allows Detecting Aircraft Defects

Today’s military aircraft are expected to withstand the rigors of combat and training sometimes for decades before being retired or undergoing an overhaul. Metal fatigue and tiny cracks found in engine and structural components can lead to disaster if they are not discovered and repaired in time.

Engineers at Southwest Research Institute have developed a new system that monitors the entire structure of the aircraft for any defects that may lead to the failure of critical components. The new method they have developed is non destructive and does not require the use of the external magnets needed for previous flaw detection systems.

An A-10 (Warthog) was used to test the new system and it successfully detected and monitored the growth of microscopic cracks in the aircraft. Southwest Research Institute is a pioneer in the use of this new technology, known as a magnetostrictive sensor.

Previously, the sensors were only used in pipelines to detect cracks and maintain the integrity of the system. Only after they refined the technology to make a, ” lightweight, low-profile evaluation sensor that could maintain a residual magnetic field without the need for an external magnet,” could it be used inside the tight spaces found in airplanes.

“Magnetostrictive sensors used by the pipeline industry are also limited by a “dead zone” – the distance associated with the time required for the excitation pulses to saturate the receiver. ” The problem of “dead zones” was minimized by using a “much shorter wavelength or higher frequency signal.”

According to the engineers who developed the sensor system, “with additional development, the new MsS technology will address the need for monitoring the structural components of today’s high-cycle aircraft, such as T-37 and T-38 trainers, as well as A-10, F-16, F-15 and other military combat aircraft.”

It also has potential for commercial fleets. With the average age of jets in the commercial fleet hovering above 20 years and structural cracks causing fatal crashes on a regular basis technology to detect and monitor stress cracks and other flaws is a Godsend.

Today’s military aircraft are expected to withstand the rigors of combat and training sometimes for decades before being retired or undergoing an overhaul. Metal fatigue and tiny cracks found in engine and structural components can lead to disaster if they are not discovered and repaired in time.

Engineers at Southwest Research Institute have developed a new system that monitors the entire structure of the aircraft for any defects that may lead to the failure of critical components. The new method they have developed is non destructive and does not require the use of the external magnets needed for previous flaw detection systems.

An A-10 (Warthog) was used to test the new system and it successfully detected and monitored the growth of microscopic cracks in the aircraft. Southwest Research Institute is a pioneer in the use of this new technology, known as a magnetostrictive sensor.

Previously, the sensors were only used in pipelines to detect cracks and maintain the integrity of the system. Only after they refined the technology to make a, ” lightweight, low-profile evaluation sensor that could maintain a residual magnetic field without the need for an external magnet,” could it be used inside the tight spaces found in airplanes.

“Magnetostrictive sensors used by the pipeline industry are also limited by a “dead zone” – the distance associated with the time required for the excitation pulses to saturate the receiver. ” The problem of “dead zones” was minimized by using a “much shorter wavelength or higher frequency signal.”

According to the engineers who developed the sensor system, “with additional development, the new MsS technology will address the need for monitoring the structural components of today’s high-cycle aircraft, such as T-37 and T-38 trainers, as well as A-10, F-16, F-15 and other military combat aircraft.”

It also has potential for commercial fleets. With the average age of jets in the commercial fleet hovering above 20 years and structural cracks causing fatal crashes on a regular basis technology to detect and monitor stress cracks and other flaws is a Godsend.