Center for Quality Engineering & Failure Prevention

Northwestern University

 


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RESEARCH THEME            RESEARCH PROJECTS    

·       Structural health monitoring

·       Smart structures and materials

·       Damage and failure mechanics

·       Structural and reliability analysis, and

·       Nondestructive materials characterization.

 

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The overarching theme of the Center research activities is an integrated approach to intelligent structural health management (ISHM) of safety-critical aerospace, mechanical and civil structures.  Intelligent SHM involves feedback-based Text Box:  

Feedback-based diagnostics
prediction of structural integrity. On-board diagnostic sensors provide continuous or on-demand information about the state of a structure, and the data from the sensors is incorporated into structural analyses and damage evolution models to assess the state of the structure, and to make probabilistic prognoses about the remaining lifetime. Intelligent SHM represents a shift away from routine inspections which are currently scheduled based on ensemble statistics, to inspections that are scheduled based on the actual state of the structural health of individual structures.  This approach results in improved safety as well as in increased efficiencies in terms of cost and downtime.

 

 

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Photo-Acoustic Characterization of Materials:

·        ·        Femtosecond Photo-acoustic characterization of ultrathin films

·        ·        Photo-acoustic Materials Characterization of Coatings

·        ·        Photo-acoustic Characterization of Thin Film MEMS Structures

·        ·        Scanning Laser Source Technique for Surface-Breaking Cracks

·        ·        Photoacoustic Process Monitoring of Composites

Ultrasonic Imaging Camera

·        ·        Real-time ultrasonic imaging camera

Ultrasonic Nonlinearity for Fatigue Damage Characterization

·        ·        Fatigue damage prognosis using ultrasonic nonlinearity

Fiber-Optic Sensors:

·        ·        Mulitplexed Two-Wave Mixing Array Demodulator for Bragg-grating fiber sensors

Piezo-electric Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring:

·        ·        Modally-selective piezolelectric Lamb Wave Sensors

·        ·        Energy-harvested piezoelectric actuators

  

Selected Past Research Activities:

·        ·        Adaptive Holographic Interferometers Using Photorefractive Crystals for Ultrasound Detection

·        ·        Multiplexed Two-Wave Mixing Interferometry

·        ·        Dynamic Holographic Full-Field Interferometry

·        ·        Additive-Subtractive Speckle Interferometry

·        ·        Compact Polariscope/Shearing Interferometer for Fracture of Bimaterial Systems

·        ·        Fiber-Optic Ultrasound Sensors for Smart Structures Applications

·        ·        Intrinsic and Extrinsic Fiber-Optic Sagnac Ultrasound Sensors

·        ·        Intrinsic Fiber-Optic Ultrasound Generators

 

 

 

 

 


Northwestern University | McCormick School of Engineering  |  Mechanical Engineering |

Center for Quality Engineering and Failure Prevention, Rm 327, 2137 Tech Drive, Evanston IL, 60208-3020.

Phone: 847-491-4042, Fax: 847-491-5227

Last Updated 03/07/2007  World Wide Web Disclaimer and University Policy Statements   © 2007 Northwestern University