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By rapidly alternating displays of SPOT satellite images acquired on 27 July 1991 and 25 July 1992 we are able to see spatial details of terrain movements along fault breaks associated with the 28 June 1992 Landers, California earthquake that are virtually undetectable by any other means.
The incorporation of magnetic field sensors into eddy current probes can result in novel probe designs with unique performance characteristics. One such example is a recently developed electromagnetic probe consisting of a two-channel magnetoresistive sensor with an embedded single-strand eddy current inducer. Magnetic flux leakage maps of ferrous materials are generated from the DC sensor response while high-resolution eddy current imaging is simultaneously performed at frequencies up to 5 megahertz. In this work the design and optimization of this probe will be presented, along with an application toward analysis of sensory materials with embedded ferromagnetic shape-memory alloy (FSMA) particles. The sensory material is designed to produce a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in the FSMA particles under strain. Mapping of the stray magnetic field and eddy current response of the sample with the hybrid probe can thereby image locations in the structure which have experienced an overstrain condition. Numerical modeling of the probe response is performed with good agreement with experimental results.
Experimental work in support of stress studies in high speed silicon sheet growth has been emphasized in this quarter. Creep experiments utilizing four-point bending have been made in the temperature range from 1000 C to 1360 C in CZ silicon as well as on EFG ribbon. A method to measure residual stress over large areas using laser interferometry to map strain distributions under load is under development. A fiber optics sensor to measure ribbon temperature profiles has been constructed and is being tested in a ribbon growth furnace environment. Stress and temperature field modeling work has been directed toward improving various aspects of the finite element computing schemes. Difficulties in computing stress distributions with a very high creep intensity and with non-zero interface stress have been encountered and additional development of the numerical schemes to cope with these problems is required. Temperature field modeling has been extended to include the study of heat transfer effects in the die and meniscus regions.
A method, computer program product and system for analyzing multispectral images from a plurality of regions of birefringent material, such as a polymer film, using polarized light and a corresponding polar analyzer to identify differential strain in the birefringent material. For example, the birefringement material may be low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride, polyester, nylon, or cellophane film. Optionally, the method includes generating a real-time quantitative strain map.
Because SiCSiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are under consideration for use as turbine engine hot-section components in extreme environments, it becomes necessary to investigate their performance and damage morphologies under complex loading and environmental conditions. Monitoring of electrical resistance (ER) has been shown as an effective tool for detecting damage accumulation of woven melt-infiltrated SiCSiC CMCs. However, ER change under complicated thermo-mechanical loading is not well understood. In this study a systematic approach is taken to determine the capabilities of ER as a relevant non-destructive evaluation technique for high heat-flux testing, including thermal gradients and localized stress concentrations. Room temperature and high temperature, laser-based tensile tests were conducted in which stress-dependent damage locations were determined using modal acoustic emission (AE) monitoring and compared to full-field strain mapping using digital image correlation (DIC). This information is then compared with the results of in-situ ER monitoring, post-test ER inspection and fractography in order to correlate ER response to convoluted loading conditions and damage evolution.
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Axial and transverse strain fields induced in composite laminates subjected to compressive creep loading were compared for several types of laminate layups. Unidirectional graphite/epoxy as well as multi-directional graphite/epoxy and graphite/PEEK layups were studied. Specimens with and without holes were tested. The specimens were subjected to compressive creep loading for a 10-hour period. In-plane displacements were measured using moire interferometry. A computer based data reduction scheme was developed which reduces the whole-field displacement fields obtained using moire to whole-field strain contour maps. Only slight viscoelastic response was observed in matrix-dominated laminates, except for one test in which catastrophic specimen failure occurred after a 16-hour period. In this case the specimen response was a complex combination of both viscoelastic and fracture mechanisms. No viscoelastic effects were observed for fiber-dominated laminates over the 10-hour creep time used. The experimental results for specimens with holes were compared with results obtained using a finite-element analysis. The comparison between experiment and theory was generally good. Overall strain distributions were very well predicted. The finite element analysis typically predicted slightly higher strain values at the edge of the hole, and slightly lower strain values at positions removed from the hole, than were observed experimentally. It is hypothesized that these discrepancies are due to nonlinear material behavior at the hole edge, which were not accounted for during the finite-element analysis.
Techniques were developed for presenting an analytical and graphical means for selecting an optimum flywheel system design, based on system requirements, geometric constraints, and weight limitations. The techniques for creating an analytical solution are formulated from energy and structural principals. The resulting flywheel design relates stress and strain pattern distribution, operating speeds, geometry, and specific energy levels. The design techniques incorporate the lowest stressed flywheel for any particular application and achieve the highest specific energy per unit flywheel weight possible. Stress and strain contour mapping and sectional profile plotting reflect the results of the structural behavior manifested under rotating conditions. This approach toward flywheel design is applicable to any metal flywheel, and permits the selection of the flywheel design to be based solely on the criteria of the system requirements that must be met, those that must be optimized, and those system parameters that may be permitted to vary.
Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based sensors for structural health monitoring (SHM) can be embedded in structures of all geometries to monitor conditions both inside and at the surface of the structure to continuously sense changes. These CNTs can be manipulated into specific orientations to create small, powerful, and flexible sensors. One of the sensors is a highly flexible sensor for crack growth detection and strain field mapping that features a very dense and highly ordered array of single-walled CNTs. CNT structural health sensors can be mass-produced, are inexpensive, can be packaged in small sizes (0.5 micron(sup 2)), require less power than electronic or piezoelectric transducers, and produce less waste heat per square centimeter than electronic or piezoelectric transducers. Chemically functionalized lithographic patterns are used to deposit and align the CNTs onto metallic electrodes. This method consistently produces aligned CNTs in the defined locations. Using photo- and electron-beam lithography, simple Cr/Au thin-film circuits are patterned onto oxidized silicon substrates. The samples are then re-patterned with a CNT-attracting, self-assembled monolayer of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) to delineate the desired CNT locations between electrodes. During the deposition of the solution-suspended single- wall CNTs, the application of an electric field to the metallic contacts causes alignment of the CNTs along the field direction. This innovation is a prime candidate for smart skin technologies with applications ranging from military, to aerospace, to private industry.
Real time monitoring of the mechanical integrity and stresses on key aerospace composite structures like aircraft wings, walls of pressure vessels and fuel tanks or any other structurally extended components and panels as in space telescopes is very important to NASA. Future military and commercial aircraft as well as NASA space systems such as Space Based Radar and International Space Station will incorporate a monitoring system to sense any degradation to the structure. In the extreme flight conditions of an aerospace vehicle it might be desirable to measure the strain every ten centimeters and thus fully map out the strain field of a composite component. A series of missions and vehicle health management requirements call for these measurements. At the moment thousands of people support a few vehicle launches per year. This number can be significantly reduced by implementing intelligent vehicles with integral nervous systems (smart structures). This would require maintenance to be performed only as needed. Military and commercial aircrafts have an equally compelling case. Maintenance yearly costs are currently reaching astronomical heights. Monitoring techniques are therefore required that allow for maintenance to be performed only when needed. This would allow improved safety by insuring that necessary tasks are performed while reducing costs by eliminating procedures that are costly and not needed. The advantages fiber optical sensors have over conventional electro-mechanical systems like strain gauges have been widely extolled in the research literature. These advantages include their small size, low weight, immunity to electrical resistance, corrosion resistance, compatibility with composite materials and process conditions, and multiplexing capabilities. One fiber optic device which is suitable for distributed sensing is the fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Researchers at NASA MSFC are currently developing techniques for using FBGs for monitoring the integrity of advanced structural materials expected to become the mainstay of the current and future generation space structures. Since carbon-epoxy composites are the materials of choice for the current space structures, the initial study is concentrated on this type of composite. The goals of this activity are to use embedded FBG sensors for measuring strain and temperature of composite structures, and to investigate the effects of various parameters such as composite fiber orientation with respect to the optical sensor, unidirectional fiber composite, fabrication process etc., on the optical performance of the sensor. This paper describes an experiment to demonstrate the use of an embedded FBG for measuring strain in a composite material. The performance of the fiber optic sensor is determined by direct comparison with results from more conventional instrumentation.
Real time monitoring of the mechanical integrity and stresses on key aerospace composite structures like aircraft wings, walls of pressure vessels and fuel tanks or any other structurally extended components and panels as in space telescopes is very important to NASA. Future military and commercial aircraft as well as NASA space systems such as Space Based Radar and International Space Station will incorporate a monitoring system to sense any degradation to the structure. In the extreme flight conditions of an aerospace vehicle it might be desirable to measure the strain every ten centimeters and thus fully map out the strain field of a composite component. A series of missions and vehicle health management requirements call for these measurements. At the moment thousands of people support a few vehicle launches per year. This number can be significantly reduced by implementing intelligent vehicles with integral nervous systems (smart structures). This would require maintenance to be performed only as needed. Military and commercial aircrafts have an equally compelling case. Annual maintenance costs are currently reaching astronomical heights. Monitoring techniques are therefore required that allow for maintenance to be performed only when needed. This would allow improved safety by insuring that necessary tasks are performed while reducing costs by eliminating procedures that are costly and not needed. The advantages fiber optical sensors have over conventional electro-mechanical systems like strain gauges have been widely extolled in the research literature. These advantages include their small size, low weight, immunity to electrical resistance, corrosion resistance, compatibility with composite materials and process conditions, and multiplexing capabilities. One fiber optic device which is suitable for distributed sensing is the fiber Bragg grating (FBG). This is a periodic perturbation in the refractive index of the fiber core. When a broadband light is coupled into the optical fiber sensor, a reflection peak will be obtained centered around a wavelength called Bragg-wavelength. The Bragg-wavelength depends on the refractive index and the period of the grating, which both change due to mechanical and thermal strain applied to the sensor. The shift in the Bragg-wavelength is directly proportional to the strain. Researchers at NASA MSFC are currently developing techniques for using FBGs for monitoring the integrity of advanced structural materials expected to become the mainstay of the current and future generation space structures. Since carbon-epoxy composites are the materials of choice for the current space structures, the initial study is concentrated on this type of composite. The goals of this activity are to use embedded FBG sensors for measuring strain and temperature of composite structures, and to investigate the effects of various parameters such as composite fiber orientation with respect to the optical sensor, unidirectional fiber composite, fabrication process etc., on the optical performance of the sensor. This paper describes an experiment to demonstrate the use of an embedded FBG for measuring strain in a composite material. The performance of the fiber optic sensor is determined by direct comparison with results from more conventional instrumentation.
The development of whole-field contour maps of shear strains gamma (xy), derived from displacement fields obtained by moire interferometry with 2400 lines/mm, is described. The use of mechanical differentiation to obtain cross-derivatives of displacements and the use of graphical additive moire to sum the cross-derivatives are explained. Quantitative analysis in the small-strain domain is possible because of the high sensitivity of moire interferometry. The applicability of this technique is shown by the testing of a short epoxy beam under three-point bending.
A laser speckle strain measurement system has been built and tested for the NASA Lewis Research Center. The system is based on a speckle shift technique, which automatically corrects for error due to rigid body motion, and provides a near real time measure of strain. The first stage of a multiphase effort to develop an optical strain gauge capable of mapping in two dimensions the strain on the surface of a hot specimen is discussed. The objectives of this first phase have been to provide a noncontact, one-dimensional, differential strain gauge for experimental purposes, and to determine the maximum open air temperature limit of the system.
Observations are needed to show the form of the strains introduced into the fields above the surface of the Sun. The longitudinal component alone does not provide the basic information, so that it has been necessary in the past to use the filamentary structure observed in H sub alpha to supplement the longitudinal information. Vector measurements provide the additional essential information to determine the strains, with the filamentary structure available as a check for consistency. It is to be expected, then, that vector measurements will permit a direct mapping of the strains imposed on the magnetic fields of active regions. It will be interesting to study the relation of those strains to the emergence of magnetic flux, flares, eruptive prominences, etc. In particular we may hope to study the relaxation of the strains via the dynamical nonequilibrium.
Experimental analyses were performed for determination of in plane deformations and shear strains in unidirectional and quasi-isotropic graphite-epoxy beams. Forty-eight ply beams were subjected to 5 point and 3 point flexure. Whole field measurements were recorded at load levels from about 20% to more than 90% of failure loads. Contour maps of U and W displacement fields were obtained by moire interferometry, using reference gratings of 2400 lines/mm. Clearly defined fringes with fringe orders exceeding 1000 were obtained. Whole field contour maps of shear strains were obtained by a method developed for these tests. Various anomalous effects were detected in the displacement fields. Their analysis indicated excess shear strains in resin rich zones in regions of shear tractions; free edge shear strains in quasi-isotropic specimens in regions of normal stresses; and shear stresses associated with cyclic shear compliances of quasi-isotropic plies in regions of shear tractions. Their contributions could occur independently or in superposition. Qualitative analyses addressed questions of relaxation; influence of contact stress distribution; specimen failure; effect of specimen overhang; nonlinearity; and qualities of 5 and 3 point flexure tests.
Experimental analyses were performed for determination of in-plane deformations and shear strains in unidirectional and quasi-isotropic graphite-epoxy beams. Forty-eight-ply beams were subjected to five-point and three-point flexure. Whole-field measurements were recorded at load levels from about 20 percent to more than 90 percent of failure loads. Contour maps of U and W displacement fields were obtained by moire interferometry, using reference gratings of 2400 lines/mm. Clearly defined fringes with fringe orders exceeding 1000 were obtained. Whole-field contour maps of shear strains were obtained. Various anomalous effects were detected in the displacement fields. Their analysis indicated excess shear strains in resin-rich zones in regions of shear tractions; free-edge shear strains in quasi-isotropic specimens in regions of normal stresses, and shear stresses associated with cyclic shear compliances of quasi-isotropic laminates in regions of shear tractions. Their contributions could occur independently or in superposition. Qualitative analyses addressed questions of the effect of specimen overhang, nonlinearity, and characteristics of five-point and three-point flexure tests.
A systematic approach is proposed for mapping adhesive bonding process outcomes to initial conditions for progressive damage analysis (PDA). Herein, two mapping procedures are developed: 1) direct mapping for residual stresses, strains, and deformations obtained from a process model; and 2) functional mapping for quantities such as bondline thickness, degree of cure, and porosity that are assumed to have a functional relationship with fracture toughness but are not discretely modeled in the PDA. The spatial distribution of functionally mapped quantities may be determined by process modeling or inspection. The functional maps between the quantity of interest and fracture toughness may be obtained from independent lower-scale numerical simulations or empirical test campaigns. The proposed mapping procedure links the adhesive bonding process to the structural performance. Therefore, by accounting for the effects of bondline nonuniformities in structural analysis, analytical predictive accuracy can be improved, and off-nominal conditions can be evaluated. The mapping procedures are demonstrated and verified with example problems.
A systematic approach is proposed for mapping adhesive bonding process outcomes to initial conditions for progressive damage analysis (PDA). Herein, two mapping procedures are developed: 1) direct mapping for residual stresses, strains, and deformations obtained from a process model; and 2) functional mapping for quantities such as bondline thickness, degree of cure, and porosity that are assumed to have a functional relationship with fracture toughness but are not discretely modeled in the PDA. The spatial distribution of functionally mapped quantities may be determined by process modeling or inspection. The functional maps between the quantity of interest and fracture toughness may be obtained from independent lower-scale numerical simulations or empirical test campaigns. The proposed mapping procedure links the adhesive bonding process to the structural performance. Therefore, by accounting for the effects of bondline nonuniformities in structural analysis, analytical predictive accuracy can be improved, and off-nominal conditions can be evaluated. The mapping procedures are demonstrated and verified with example problems.