A Study on Vibration-Based Damage Detection and Location in an Aircraft Wing Scaled Model

This study investigates the possibilities for damage detection and location using the vibration response of an aircraft wing. A simplified finite element model of an aircraft wing is used to model its vibration response. The model is subjected to modal analysis- its natural frequencies are estimated and the mode shapes are determined. Two types of damage are considered - localised and distributed. The wing model is divided into a number of volumes. The goal of the study is to investigate the possibility to use the vibration response of an aircraft wing and especially its modal characteristics for the purposes of damage detection. So we’ll be trying to find suitable features, which can be used to detect damage and restrict it to one of the introduced volumes. The sensitivity of the modal frequencies of the model to damage in different locations is studied. Some general trends in the behaviour of these frequencies with change of the damage location are investigated. The utilization of the modal frequencies for detecting damage in a certain part of the wing is discussed