Center for Quality Engineering & Failure Prevention
Northwestern University
HOME PEOPLE FACILITIES PUBLICATIONS CONTACT
RESEARCH THEME RESEARCH PROJECTS
· Structural
health monitoring
· Smart
structures and materials
· Damage and
failure mechanics
· Structural and
reliability analysis, and
· Nondestructive
materials characterization.
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
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