An Investigation on Vibration-Based Damage Detection in an Aircraft Wing Scaled Model

This work investigates the use of two different vibration-based methods for health monitoring of aircraft wings. A finite element model of a simplified wing is used to model and predict the vibration response of an aircraft wing in an intact condition and in the presence of different types and levels of damage. Two main types of damage are considered- cracks and distributed damage. This study first explores the sensitivity of the lower modal frequencies to different damage levels of the studied types. Then the employment of the frequency response functions subjected to principal components analysis is discussed. This is an early model-based study which is intended to establish if the considered procedures can be used as damage detection tools.