Principal investigator: Tiziana D'Orazio

Start: 07/07/2014

End: 31/12/2016

The DITECO project is developed as a member of the Apulian Technological District for Aerospace (DTA) in cooperation with several industrial partners (Leonardo Aircraft SpA, Salver SpA, GSE srl, Consorzio Cetma, EnginSoft SpA) and research units (Università del Salento, Politecnico di Bari, ENEA).

The project aims to find innovative techniques for detecting, characterizing and, if possible, repairing aircraft’s parts made of composite materials. These materials are the basis in aerospace industry due to their mechanical properties (strength and lightness), but also because they are less expensive in comparison with corresponding traditional materials.

On the other hand, their use is subjected to specific phases of production (automatic + manual) which can lead to the presence of defects, which is currently checked at the end of the processes via ultrasonic inspection.

The ISP group is responsible for the definition of novel techniques for the recognition and characterization of defects before the end of the production process, thus allowing their immediate reparation (cost-effective approach). The group is also involved in the design of a mobile vehicle capable of modeling and repairing the internal regions of wings.

This project involves the development of a platform for structural analysis with the aim to perform diagnosis and prognosis of composite material structures damaged and/or defected.

The focus will be the most typical damages and/or defects experienced in recent years, distinguishing between those involving materials and those involving structure components.

Initially the studies essentially involve:

• Damages/defect identification;
• Damages/defects discrimination and modeling;
• Damages/defects classification.

Then it proceeds with the study of new methodologies for understanding the state of damaged/defected structures. This phase involves the study of:

• The structures behavior during the formation of the damage/defect;
• The structure behavior after the formation of the damage/defect;
• Solutions to the damage/defect.

This last requires the definition of innovative repair techniques and the development of analytical methods for their optimization. This phase has consequence on both composite and structure behavior understanding.

In summary, the project involves the design, manufacturing and execution of structural tests following the whole pyramid of tests (from coupons to full scale), returning as an output a complete database for the mechanical characterization of reparations and a set of autonomous systems for the inspection and the execution of reparations in tricky regions.