Expandable Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

Autonomous space habitats that can sense their health, detect damage, and also monitor the environments like a human can revolutionize the space industry. Current Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems have demonstrated the ability to detect, locate, and determine the size/severity of structural damage in metal and composite structures. However, there currently are no long duration flexible hybrid multifunctional devices that can conformably distribute sensors over very large surfaces enabling the availability of instantaneous information on the structural integrity of the structure while adding minimal weight. This presentation will showcase recent work conducted to build expandable autonomous sensing capabilities and integrate flexible structural health monitoring into space materials such as stateof- the art thin-ply composites and soft-goods materials for expandable habitat structural concepts, during or after fabrication, to enable evaluation of structural properties and failure prediction over the duration of the habitat’s operational life