Crack detection on a full-scale aircraft fatigue test

This paper will present the findings from crack detection monitoring on the 777 full-scale aircraft during fatigue testing. Crack detection is a critical component of any comprehensive aircraft structural health-monitoring system. Health monitoring offers the promise of substantially reduced inspection and maintenance costs for military aircraft. To date, most testing has been performed in the laboratory on relatively small coupons and subcomponents. A persistent concern with broadband acoustic emission methods has been their ability to measure crack signals in the presence of noise. There is little broadband acoustic emission test data to provide any indication of the possible difficulties in monitoring a full-scale structure. This paper will present test data, results and discussion from broadband acoustic emission monitoring of the 777 Full-Scale Fatigue Test.