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US 12,767,355 B2Granted
Methods of characterizing bondline integrity of structural assemblies, methods of establishing reduced proof pressure differentials for proof testing a structural assembly that includes a bondline, methods of proof testing a structural assembly, and acoustic evaluation systems
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsJoseph D. Schaefer, Brian P. Justusson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods of characterizing bondline integrity of structural assemblies, methods of establishing reduced proof pressure differentials for proof testing a structural assembly that includes a bondline, methods of proof testing a structural assembly, and acoustic evaluation systems are disclosed herein.
Claims20
A method of characterizing bondline integrity of structural assemblies, the method comprising:
- for each baseline structural assembly of a plurality of baseline structural assemblies:
- (i) receiving baseline acoustic emission data generated during validation of each baseline structural assembly, wherein each baseline structural assembly includes a corresponding baseline bondline, and further wherein at least a subset of the baseline acoustic emission data is generated during a physical change to the corresponding baseline bondline;
- (i) filtering the baseline acoustic emission data to generate filtered baseline acoustic emission data that includes a baseline bondline-proximate subset of the baseline acoustic emission data generated relatively proximate the corresponding baseline bondline and excludes a baseline bondline-distal subset of the baseline acoustic emission data generated relatively distal the corresponding baseline bondline;
- and
- (iii) applying an unsupervised learning algorithm to the filtered baseline acoustic emission data to generate a classification dataset that identifies at least one characteristic of the filtered baseline acoustic emission data that is indicative of a physical change to the corresponding baseline bondline during validation of each baseline structural assembly.
2 more elements
An acoustic evaluation system for acoustically evaluating a structural assembly that includes a bondline, the acoustic evaluation system comprising:
- a validation structure configured to apply a validation condition to the structural assembly;
- an acoustic sensing system including a plurality of acoustic sensors configured to be positioned in acoustic communication with the structural assembly and to generate acoustic emission data indicative of acoustic emissions from the structural assembly during validation of the structural assembly via the validation condition;
- and
- an analyzer module programmed to receive the acoustic emission data and to filter the acoustic emission data to generate filtered acoustic emission data that includes a bondline-proximate subset of the acoustic emission data generated relatively proximate the bondline and excludes a bondline-distal subset of the acoustic emission data generated relatively distal the bondline.
1 more element
A method of establishing a reduced proof pressure differential for proof testing of a structural assembly that includes a bondline, the method comprising:
- establishing an assessment pressure differential between an interior region of an assessment structural assembly and an exterior region of the assessment structural assembly;
- during the establishing the assessment pressure differential, acoustically monitoring the assessment structural assembly to generate assessment acoustic emission data;
- filtering the assessment acoustic emission data to generate filtered assessment acoustic emission data that includes an assessment bondline-proximate subset of the assessment acoustic emission data and excludes an assessment bondline-distal subset of the assessment acoustic emission data;
- applying a supervised learning algorithm trained on a classification dataset to the filtered assessment acoustic emission data to identify characteristics of the filtered assessment acoustic emission data indicative of a physical change to an assessment bondline of the assessment structural assembly;
- repeating the establishing, the acoustically monitoring, the filtering, and the applying at a plurality of distinct assessment pressure differentials to generate a proof pressure differential database that includes each assessment pressure differential of the plurality of distinct assessment pressure differentials and correspondingly identified characteristics of corresponding filtered assessment acoustic emission data indicative of the physical change to the assessment bondline;
- and
- selecting the reduced proof pressure differential for the structural assembly based, at least in part, on the proof pressure differential database.
4 more elements
A method of proof testing a test structural assembly, which includes a test bondline, at a reduced proof pressure differential, the method comprising:
- establishing the reduced proof pressure differential between an interior region of the test structural assembly and an exterior region of the test structural assembly;
- during the establishing the reduced proof pressure differential, acoustically monitoring the test structural assembly to generate test acoustic emission data;
- filtering the test acoustic emission data to generate filtered test acoustic emission data that includes a test bondline-proximate subset of the test acoustic emission data and excludes a test bondline-distal subset of the test acoustic emission data;
- applying a supervised learning algorithm trained on a classification dataset to the filtered test acoustic emission data to identify characteristics of the filtered test acoustic emission data indicative of a physical change to the test bondline;
- and
- predicting the physical change to the test bondline when the filtered test acoustic emission data includes characteristics indicative of the physical change to the test bondline.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.