BANGALORE: Scientists at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) are working on Gen-Next components that will make planes lighter, smarter and safer.
Through Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of composites, scientists are confident they will be able to enhance the performance of flying machines.
Dr Ramesh Sundaram, senior principal scientist and deputy head of Advanced Composites Division (ACD) of NAL, which is carrying out the research, shared some of the finer points of the closely-guarded research with Express.
Any defects caused by debris on runway, hailstorm or tool-dropping on the aircraft could be detected in the future, using an on-board SHM system which will give real-time feed to the pilots, he said.
Tested on UAV Hansa
“The current system being used in aircraft is safe, but our SHM system will help reduce time required for inspections. We have progressed well in the area and have demonstrated the technology on the two-seater Hansa aircraft,” he said.
“In collaboration with the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), we have demonstrated the SHM system using fibre optic sensors on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant,” Sundaram said.
During the technology demonstration of SHM systems on the boom of UAV, scientists were able to capture the strain pattern on the tail boom — right from the take-off to parachute-deployment, while landing. Using these strain parameters, scientists have developed an algorithm to estimate the loads on the structure.
“Now, we are looking at lab-level experiments to understand the extent of damage using the SHM system. We also want to predict the residual life of aircraft structures due to the damages caused over a period of time. Currently we are focusing on developing simulation models to validate the experimental results,” the scientist said.
Lesser Inspection Time
NAL Director Shyam Chetty said it will take some more time before India can claim supremacy in developing SHM systems.
“What it will eventually do is bring down the insspection time to a few hours. Operators will get huge maintenance advantage as the details on the overall health of the aircraft will be readily available. Health of various onboard electronic systems of the avionics suite is already being checked continuously in flight by what is called C-BIT (continuous built-in-test),” Chetty said.
According to Dr Kota Harinarayana, aerospace legend and mentor, said it is essential to have a technology to map the health of the aircraft constantly.
“If there is an incipient failure, these systems should be able to detect the same. We hope even the future variants of Tejas too will have SHM systems; that will help us to look at the health of the aircraft in totality,” Dr Kota said.
Paradigm shift
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) has been undertaking projects with funding from the Aircraft Research and Development Board (AR&DB), an initiative spearheaded by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Many academic institutions including IITs and IISc are working with NAL in SHM system research. “World over, similar studies have been undertaken by major aircraft companies on experimental basis. The day is not far when SHM-based design will become the mandate for aircraft manufacturing firms. This paradigm shift will probably turn around the current concept of plane-making. Scientists with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) too have made some inroads on this front,” Dr Ramesh added.