Optimising an acoustic emission sensor network on a panel of complex geometry using a Local Interaction Simulation Approach

Historical trends show that the number of commercial aircraft will double in the next fifteen years. With the increasing complexity of aircraft structures and materials there is an essential need to continually monitor the structure for damage. This task is difficult to achieve using traditional non-destructive testing (NDT) methods alone. It is therefore proposed that a structural health monitoring (SHM) system should be implemented for the continual monitoring of the structure. It is forecast that the implementation of such a system will result in increased safety, cost and time savings in maintenance as well as mass savings of up to 15% in the aerostructure. There has been a reluctance within the aerospace industry to adopt acoustic emission (AE) techniques based on previous experiences. One of the main issues associated with the failure of AE techniques to detect damage can be attributed to poor considerations for sensor placement. Although there have been many studies conducted with the aim of optimising sensor placement for SHM applications there are few published works with the specific aim of optimising an AE sensor network. This is most likely because AE is passive technique which makes an experimental investigation difficult.