SEDL / STP / STP1077-EB / STP19090S

Acoustic Emission Detection of Crack Presence and Crack Advance During Flight

McBride, SL
faculty members, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario

Pollard, MD
faculty members, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario

MacPhail, JD
faculty members, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario

Bowman, PS
faculty members, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario

Peters, DT
faculty members, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario

Pages: 10    Published: Jan 1991

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Abstract

Results are presented which show that it is possible to detect crack growth and crack presence in airframe components during flight. To accomplish this, a data acquisition system has been developed specifically for in-flight applications. It is shown that crack advance of less than 1 mm² was readily detected during flight and the fracture-related acoustic emission signals unambiguously identified.