ADS-79D-HDBK Downloaded from https://www.everyspec.com FIGURE K-13. Structural usage monitoring credit detailed validation process K.5.4 Structural Health Monitoring Credit V&V Process Structural health monitoring (SHM) becomes emergent technology in monitoring and assessing underlying structural integrity throughout its designed life cycle using monitored structural health data. A comprehensive structural health monitoring system contains several elements for structural integrity evaluation and capability assessment, including load tracking, virtual load monitoring, and damage detection.
A qualified structural health monitoring methodology can provide Maintenance Credits in reducing or eliminating unnecessary inspections, extending inspection interval or time of overhaul / removal, and extending component design life. One of the key challenges to achieve aforementioned Maintenance Credits for structural health monitoring is establishing a process and technical path to verify and validate the SHM credit methodology. Several structural damage detection technologies have been developed and applied in aerospace industry, including NDE methods and structural health monitoring sensors.
In general NDE can be applied in-situ or at depot, while structural damage detection sensors are typically operated in an on-board basis. Owing to the non-destructive requirement, the damage detection sensors are regarded as a special case of integrated NDEs. The more detailed discussion of structural health monitoring methodology can be found in Appendix C. Due to the maturity of various structural health monitoring technologies, our discussion in this section will focus on structural health monitoring via damage detection. K.5.4.1 Structural Health Monitoring Credit Verification Process.
In this section, a detailed view of the Structural Health Credit Verification process is provided and the associated process flowchart is depicted in Figure K-14. The focus of discussion is on the verification of credit methodology assuming basic methodology developmental efforts have been performed 214