Internet - based Composite Repair

As composite materials are gaining wide acceptance in aircraft structures, the repair of damaged composites is becoming an important issue. Composite repair, however, has been performed more or less in a manual fashion, an integrated repair system is desirable. In this paper, an Internet-based advisory service (Repair Advisory Service, RAS) for composite repair is proposed to increase the efficiency of the repair process. Based on the client–server architecture, RAS offers time-effective sharing of engineering knowledge between remote locations, easy maintenance and update of the application software, and ubiquitous access to the services. The web browser is used as the user interface, which provides an easy access to the service and software friendly environment. The RAS system provides integrated design and repair tools for repair technicians and engineers as follows: (1) A design software for scarf repair and lap repair estimates the tensile failure and shear failure of repaired structures. (2) A structural repair manual is provided in the PDF document for viewing, and a web search engine can search the document. (3) A fabrication module of RAS generates a CNC toolpath to cut repair patches. (4) A CNC-based prepreg cutting machine has been developed to implement an automated composite repair. A scenario for the web-based remote repair was proposed, and a test repair was performed on an aircraft wing. The RAS service is open to public and available at http://fab.snu.ac.kr/ras.