New sensor technologies in aircraft structural health monitoring

The traditional nondestructive testing (NDT) method contributes greatly to aircraft structural safety and reliability. However, it also significantly increases operating expense, or leads to the decrease of the aircraft's runtime because of the disassemble and reassemble of structural components. Aircraft structural health monitoring (SHM) is a new in-situ, online structure detection method which was developed on the basis of the traditional NDT method. It can increase the reliability, safety and runtime of aircrafts while reduce the structure's operating and maintenance costs. This paper describes this new technology and introduces the principles and applications of some new sensor technologies in aircraft structural health monitoring, the candidate SHM sensor technologies including optical fiber sensors, piezoelectric sensors, MEMS sensors, wireless sensing systems etc. The paper will finish with a perspective for further research in this field.