Performance of aircraft structures has progressed in a sequence of steps during the past. Since composite materials have gained broad application because of significant technological improvement, it is timely to look for the next step in improvement of aircraft performance. It is very likely that this step is related to smart structures technology. Smart structures technology is able to meet various aircraft design objectives such as improved military aircraft effectiveness through improved aircraft capabilities and reduced life cycle cost or reduced direct operating cost of civil aircraft through improvement in performance, fuel consumption, and aircraft maintainability. Active/adaptive structures, structure health monitoring, and structure integrated avionics are the three areas which are felt to be the areas where smart structures technology is most beneficial. Ways for cooperation between various engineering and natural sciences, being a major driving force for the success of smart structures, are described as well as some laboratory scale experiments which were recently performed. It is felt that an increased effort in engineers in various fields towards realization of smart structures can be a new rewarding challenge for the aircraft industry in developing next generation aircraft.
Smart Structures: A Technology for Next Generation Aircraft
1993
14 pages
Report
No indication
English
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