SBIR-STTR Award

Landing Gear (LG) is one of the few critical elements which are not redundant and failure usually results in catastrophe. Current inspections center on macro aspects of fatigue in that they are only applicable during the crack propagation phase and fail to identify and sense stages of crack initiation on a micro-level to allow prevention and prognostication of critical breaks and failures. The Chameleon Skin Gauges (CSG®) have been developed as part of Prognostica™, a novel fatigue-sensing technology and demonstrated their capacity to determine fatigue life and damage on any component they are adhered to, regardless of its shape or material composition. This technology will be further developed to demonstrate its ability to accurately prognosticate the fatigue damage and crack propagation specifics on high strength steel LG components.

Benefit:
The Prognostica™ system possesses the capability to provide simple, real-time measurement of critical structure fatigue status and remaining life within design life cycle. Such information is thought to be of considerable significance to those responsible for the planning and execution of Integrated Logistics Support. Successful development and integration of Prognostica™ technology on Landing Gear components will allow its transition to other critical systems of the Aircraft as well as other Air Force and DoD weapon systems. Anticipated results in development and testing during Phase I will be of immediate use in advancing the inspection for LG component fatigue damage data gathering and providing recommendations for the extended full-scale testing.

Keywords:
High Strength Steel, Micro, Macro, Inspection, Landing Gear, Critical Crack Size, Safe-Life, Low-Alloy, Nucleate, Propagate

A direct sensing of stress and fatigue and their visualization is very attractive and has been pursued for decades. Prognostica® is a new and unique tracking, sensing, and prognosticating technology that allows for exactly that. Based on the results achieved in the Phase I effort it is evident that the technology has excellent reliability and reflects the real-time fatigue conditions of the base structure in its entirety, not calculated values or strain readings from only one small area.Phase II will continue the advanced development of the prototype kit including all materials and hardware applicable to full scale component application. During the proposed effort, the CSG® will be optimized, environmentally tested, and integrated into air vehicle components to laboratory test, investigate, and demonstrate consistent reproducibility, reliability, and accuracy of the CSG® as it applies to air vehicle components operating environment.

Benefit:
The Prognostica® ability to gather stress and fatigue data in a timely and non-disruptive manner will permit sampling of structural health on a far more frequent basis and thus permit accurate trend predictions, therefore providing clearer vision as to the need and timing of weapon system and vehicle upgrades.AGS intends to work together with the North American undercarriage makers, end-users and their qualified contractors during the commercialization stage as well as post commercialization activities to properly expedite and implement its developed Prognostica® system. It is anticipated for the Prognostica® technology to achieve an initial 0.5% market penetration in the first 3 years of commercialization following by the targeted increase to 2% over the following 7 years.An innovative use of thin flexible gauges will provide a convenient real-time look into the stress/fatigue state of any structure upon which the gauge is attached. This approach will provide many engineering sectors (Aerospace, Construction, Mining, Transportation) unparalleled visibility into the performance of their systems, thus offering significant improvements in efficiency and safety.

Keywords:
Fatigue, Landing Gear Components, High Strength, Non Destructive Inspection, Safe Life, Damage Intolerant, Aluminum