Session: 01-08-03: Nondestructive Evaluation and Structural Health Monitoring 3

Paper Number: 162866

162866 - Using Lidar Data to Describe Dynamic Structures and Understand Their Behaviors. 

Aerospace structures experience ever-changing dynamic loads throughout their lifetime. These loads can cause the materials used in these structures to experience impacts, fatigues, and unexpected damage or fractures. In multiple occasions, minimal changes occurring to the structure has caused catastrophic failures; some examples of these unfortunate events include the oversight of a manufacturing defect in the Qantas Flight 32, the extreme but undetected wear of the rudder in the American Airlines Flight 587, and the more recent case of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max which lost its side panel due to minor structural issues. Routine inspections are implemented to monitor the health of these structures. Common practices currently used include the implementation of LiDAR technology and other nondestructive evaluation methods such as ultrasonic testing and radiography. This presentation will focus on the use of LiDAR technology and how the geometric data collected can give a better understanding on the behavior of the structure through mathematical modeling.

Currently, the data points are used to provide detailed measurements of the structure, between one point and another. However, this presentation will expand on the uses of LiDAR by viewing the data points as a collective, or a point cloud. This will allow for the structure to be viewed as a whole and can furthermore be analyzed and stored in a database for future reference. This will create a ground basis level of understanding on the initial inspections and how the structure has changed over time. 

The point cloud can be analyzed in two formats: an overview of the large structure or a detailed sectioning. The overview would allow for a greater understanding of the entirety of the structure. Meanwhile, sectioning the map will analyze the structure in a detailed fashion through partitioning and voxelization of the mapped area which allows for a comprehensive analysis of each section, focused on a specific defined location or zone. An equation is defined to describe the environment scanned through the application of Bayesian Data Analysis (BDA) and using data optimization for model fitting. This analytical method can be applied to both of the formats previously mentioned. The calculations can then be stored into a database library where this method can be repeated in future inspections and compared with previous results or other aerospace structures undergoing similar dynamic loads. The application of this analysis will greatly benefit the future of nondestructuve evaluations and the structural health monitoring allowing for a more safe and reliable aerospace industry by early detection of defects and enhancing current methods used.

Presenting Author: Maria Karla Sotolongo Florida International University

Presenting Author Biography: Maria Karla Sotolongo is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Florida International University. Her research aims to model geometric data in dynamic environments, with a focus on reducing human bias and improving confidence in environmental analysis. Notable research and innovations include defining gradual surface changes and variation through a modified Gaussian Equation.