Fatigue Damage Sensing Using Acoustic Emission
Abstract
In structural fatigue testing, Acoustic Emission can be used to sense the beginning of fatigue damage (crack initiation) and then to monitor growth. If the initiation of damage can be detected early and then located on the structure, then downtime may be avoided or at least reduced to a minimum as the defect can be continuously monitored or repaired. Other methods for locating structural damage usually involve periodic shutdown of the test while visual inspections and other Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) techniques are carried out. In addition to lost valuable time this often involves a partial teardown of the structure. AE monitoring, on the other hand, involves passive monitoring of the test article while it is being cycled in load during fatigue testing. The Instrumentation Group of the Structures Test Branch (WL/FIBT) used the automated fatigue damage sensing system using acoustic emission (AE) to locate the sources of possible structural failure during the fatigue test on the F-15 aircraft in the Structures Test Facility.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA243803
Entities
People
- Burton R. Fisher
- Joseph R. Pokorski
Organizations
- Wright Laboratory