Structural Health Monitoring

The cost to operate and maintain critical infrastructure in industry sectors such as aerospace, oil & gas and civil runs into billions of dollars each year. However, many of the maintenance approaches used are inefficient, relying upon regimented practices that enforce costly downtime no matter whether the structure requires corrective action or not.

To overcome this issue ACS Australia staff and CRC-ACS participants have undertaken programs to develop and assess Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology that can be used to obtain a direct measurement of the health of a structure and thus allow more optimized, cost-effective maintenance practices to be implemented. This development of multifunctional “smart structures” is seen as a critical underpinning technology for future  advances in many industry sectors.

Effort has been focused on the development and understanding of the monitoring capabilities in the key technologies of optical sensors, acousto-ultrasonics and comparative vacuum monitoring. ACS Australia staff have also built up a significant body of experience and knowledge on the issues of implementing these technologies into composite structures. This expertise has been recognized through the involvement of ACS Australia staff in several European collaborative programs to develop new SHM technology and overcome the issues of integrating SHM technology into aerospace applications.

Composites Fire Behaviour Modelling

Concern over fire behaviour has prevented many engineers considering composites as a viable solution in transport, building and industrial applications. In fact, composites can be specified for low flammability and good high temperature performance and the insulating properties of composites can be a considerable advantage in the prevention of fire spread, with consequential improvement in personnel and infrastructure safety. Understanding the behaviour of composites in fire is the key to extending the application of these materials.

As managers and principal researchers within a major international collaborative project, CRC-ACS has been instrumental in the development of fire behaviour modelling tools. These tools analyse structural integrity of composites during fire, allowing prediction of structure survival time and aiding correct specification of composites and associated insulation systems. The analysis methods have many applications including ship engine rooms and multi-storey buildings.

Through projects such as these, the staff of ACS Australia have already developed extensive expertise in the manufacture of low flammability composites and incorporation of surface protection systems. In combination with new-generation predictive capability, we are well placed to advise on the use of composites in fire-prone applications and to expand the  employment of composites in these fields.

Repair Design and Simulation

The increased use of composite materials for critical components within industry sectors such as aerospace, transportation and oil & gas has created a requirement to develop more optimised repair processes for these materials.

ACS Australia staff and CRC-ACS participants have developed the capability to design innovative repair solutions for composite structures together with the processes to implement these repairs.

A key aspect of these outcomes is the development of analysis techniques to simulate the performance of the repair under service conditions. This 3D analysis incorporates detailed models for the behaviour of adhesive systems and allows the simulation of joint failure to be performed, even under conditions of impact on the repaired area.

Through this understanding of repair performance, designs can be generated for repairs on critical composite structures that are optimised for the expected conditions of the component in service.