Detection and Characterization of Hail Impact Damage in Carbon Fiber Aircraft Structures

Book excerpt: As the use of advanced composite materials continues to grow in the aviation industry, damage-detection techniques need to be developed and tested. Impact damage on aluminum aircraft structures can be detected from obvious surface indications. This is not the case with composite aircraft structures. Large interply delaminations and substructure disbonding may occur as a result of an impact, often leaving no visual indications of damage. This project investigates the use of various nondestructive inspection techniques to detect hail impact damage in solid laminate aircraft structures ranging from simple flat plate panels to full-scale representative fuselage structures.