SmartComposite system for impact damage detection on composite structures

Composites are increasingly used in numerous structural applications because of their low weight-to-strength and weight-to-stiffness ratios. However, the performance and behavior characteristics of nearly all in-service composite structures can be affected by degradation resulting from sustained use as well as from exposure to severe environmental conditions or damage resulting from external conditions such as impact, loading abrasion, operator abuse. These factors can have serious consequences on the structures relative to safety, cost, and operational capability. In this paper, a SmartComposite system is introduced for monitoring the integrity of large composite structures. Key features of the system include miniaturized lightweight hardware, self-diagnostics and an adaptive algorithm to automatically compensate for damaged sensors, reliable damage detection under different environmental conditions, and generation of POD curves. Tests were conducted on composite test article with sensor network embedded inside the composite skin or surface mounted to demonstrate the impact damage detection capability of the SmartComposite System. It is clear from the test results that the SmartComposite system can successfully detect impact damages, including both damage location and probability of damage size.