Interactive transformational analysis of structural health monitoring data

#The present disclosure relates generally to health monitoring, and in particular to the collection, analysis, and interaction with, Structural Health Monitoring data.

#Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are sensor-based monitoring systems that enable condition-based monitoring of a structure of a body such as an aircraft floor, wing or fuselage, the hull of a ship, or any other structural body. The goal of such a system is to detect weaknesses in the structure. This way, maintenance personnel, fleet managers, and other interested parties may be notified before any damage becomes catastrophic. Ideally, such notifications would provide sufficient information early enough to allow a maintenance team or other individual to pinpoint the structural problem and pre-order supplies. This way, the problem may be addressed during a regularly scheduled maintenance cycle, thus avoiding unscheduled maintenance while still ensuring safety of the structure being monitored.

#In an embodiment, a system for analyzing structural heath data includes a structural body, structural health sensors, and first and second computer systems. The structural health sensors are configured to sense data regarding a plurality of structures of the structural body. The first computer system is configured to collect the sensed data as the structural health data. The second computer system includes a user interface and display, and is configured to receive the structural health data and provide interactive transformational analysis of the structural health data through the user interface and the display. The interactive transformational analysis provides, on the display of the second computer system, a visual representation of the structural health data over a time period.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a structural health monitoring data collection and processing system.

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process flow for obtaining, displaying, and interacting with structural health data.

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating logical groupings of structures of a vehicle for which structural health monitoring is performed.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating system 10 for structural health monitoring (SHM) data collection, analysis, and interaction. System 10 is implemented for aircraft 12. While illustrated as an aircraft, system 10 may be implemented for any other airborne or ground based vehicle or other structural body for which it is desirable to obtain and analyze structural health data. System 10 further includes ground computer system 14. Aircraft 12 includes onboard computer system 16 connected to receive data from SHM sensors 18a-18n. Onboard computer system 16 includes processor 20 and memory 22. Ground computer system 14 includes processor 24, memory 26, display 28 and user interface 30.

#SHM sensors 18a-18n are implemented onboard aircraft 12 to assess the structural integrity of structures of aircraft 12. For example, sensors 18a-18c may be configured to collect structural data regarding left wing 32 of aircraft 12 while other sensors (illustrated but not numbered) may be configured to collect structural data regarding right wing 34. While discussed with regard to wings 32 and 34, SHM sensors 18a-18n may be utilized to collect structural data regarding any structure of aircraft 12 including, but not limited to, the aircraft floor, ceiling, wings, fuselage, and engine casings, among others. The orientation of sensors 18a-18n in FIG. 1 is an illustrative example, and in practice, any number of sensors 18a-18n may be implemented internal or external to any of the structures of aircraft 12.

#SHM sensors 18a-18n may utilize, for example, ultra-sonic acoustic monitoring to monitor structures of aircraft 12. Guided Wave (GW)/Active Detection is a method of acousto-ultrasonic SHM used to actively interrogate structures of aircraft 12 on demand. It may be initiated by using one of SHM sensors 18a-18n to send a mechanical wave into the structure and measure the resulting vibration signature of the structure. Differences in how the elastic waves travel through the material are detected by system 10 and can be indicative of changes in the structure of aircraft 12 due to damage. In other embodiments, SHM sensors 18a-18n may utilize any other method of structural sensing that results in structural data regarding the structures of aircraft 12.