Abstract and subjects
In order to facilitate damage detection and structural health monitoring (SHM) research for composite unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) a specialized test-bed has been developed. This test-bed consists of four 2.61 m all-composite test-pieces emulating composite UAV wings, a series of detailed finite element models of the test-pieces and their components, and a dynamic testing setup including a mount for simulating the cantilevered operation configuration of real wings. Two of the wings will have bondline damage built in; one undamaged and one damaged wing will also be fitted with a range of embedded and attached sensors-piezoelectric patches, fiber-optics, and accelerometers. These sensors will allow collection of realistic data; combined with further modal testing they will allow comparison of the physical impact of the sensors on the structure compared to the damage-induced variation, evaluation of the sensors for implementation in an operational structure, and damage detection algorithm validation. At the present time the pieces for four wings have been fabricated and modally tested and one wing has been fully assembled and re-tested in a cantilever configuration. The component part and assembled wing finite element models, created for MSC.Nastran, have been correlated to their respective structures using the modal information. This paper details the design and manufacturing of the test-pieces, the finite element model construction, and the dynamic testing setup. Measured natural frequencies and mode shapes for the assembled cantilevered wing are reported, along with finite element model undamaged modal response, and response with a small disbond at the root of the top main spar-skin bondline.