Monitoring of a highly flexible aircraft model wing using time-expanded phase-sensitive OTDR

Soriano-Amat, Miguel ; Fragas-Sánchez, David ; Martins, Hugo F. ; Vallespín-Fontcuberta, David ; Preciado-Garbayo, Javier ; Martin-Lopez, Sonia ; Gonzalez-Herraez, Miguel ; Fernández-Ruiz, María R.

Resumen: In recent years, the use of highly flexible wings in aerial vehicles (e.g., aircraft or drones) has been attracting increasing interest, as they are lightweight, which can improve fuel-efficiency and distinct flight performances. Continuous wing monitoring can provide valuable information to prevent fatal failures and optimize aircraft control. In this paper, we demonstrate the capabilities of a distributed optical fiber sensor based on time-expanded phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (TE-ΦOTDR) technology for structural health monitoring of highly flexible wings, including static (i.e., bend and torsion), and dynamic (e.g., vibration) structural deformation. This distributed sensing technology provides a remarkable spatial resolution of 2 cm, with detection and processing bandwidths well under the MHz, arising as a novel, highly efficient monitoring methodology for this kind of structure. Conventional optical fibers were embedded in two highly flexible specimens that represented an aircraft wing, and different bending and twisting movements were detected and quantified with high sensitivity and minimal intrusiveness.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/S21113766

Año: 2021

Publicado en: Sensors 21, 11 (2021), 3766 [10 pp.]
ISSN: 1424-8220

Factor impacto JCR: 3.847 (2021)

Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, ANALYTICAL rank: 29 / 87 = 0.333 (2021) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: INSTRUMENTS & INSTRUMENTATION rank: 19 / 64 = 0.297 (2021) - Q2 - T1
Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC rank: 95 / 277 = 0.343 (2021) - Q2 - T2

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 6.4 - Engineering (Q1) - Physics and Astronomy (Q1) - Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Q2)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.803 - Analytical Chemistry (Q1) - Biochemistry (Q1) - Instrumentation (Q1) - Information Systems (Q1) - Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/875302/EU/Ocean-Bottom Distributed Acoustic Sensors: new tools for Underwater Seismology/Ocean-DAS
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/RTI2018-097957-B-C31
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/RTI2018-097957-BC33

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)