Nondestructive Evaluation for Health Monitoring and Diagnostics

Much of our expectation of the future is based on a linear extrapolation from the present. However history tells us time and again that it’s the nonlinearities that make the big differences in predicting the future. New technologies like smart materials, MEMS, micro adaptive flow control, and nanotechnology all have the potential to have a big influence on the future of aeronautics. A forward-looking view of systems that can successfully integrate these technologies is a key part of making the future happen. A view of some new and exciting “gamechangers” in aeronautics will be presented based on experience in industry, DARPA, and NASA. Biography: Dr. Wlezien was born in Chicago IL. He earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1974, 1976, and 1981, respectively, where he specialized in fundamental studies of turbulence. He worked for the McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories from 1980 to 1990 where he was responsible for noise research, working noise problems for acoustic issues for aircraft including the F-15 Eagle, F-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier, and MD-80, special projects including the F-15 STOL and Maneuvering Technology Demonstrator and the Ultra-High Bypass Engine Demonstrator. Between 1990 and 1992, he was Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In 1992, he moved to High Technology Corporation where he worked as a senior scientist in aeronautics research, focusing on the coupling between sound and laminar boundary layers. He joined the staff at NASA-Langley in 1994 and has held a series of technical and management positions (progressing from Project Scientist to Branch Chief). He formed the Active Flow Control group and formulated the Aircraft Morphing Project, as it’s first manager. He served as Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 1999 to 2002. While at DARPA he ran the Quiet Supersonic Platform Program, which culminated in the demonstration of the first supersonic aircraft to fly with a quieted sonic boom. He also managed the Micro Adaptive Flow Control Program which demonstrated the first successful flight application of active flow control on the XV-15 aircraft and the first hovering micro air vehicle based on flapping wing technology, the MENTOR. Currently he is the Vehicle Systems Division Director in the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. NDE Plenary Presentation Optical and Laser NDE: More Than Meets the Eye Town & Country Ballroom Dr. Jean-Pierre Monchalin, Industrial Materials Institute/National Research Council Canada (Canada) Light is certainly at the basis of the most widespread NDE technique: visual inspection. This technique is also likely to be the oldest one, dating back to prehistoric times when human beings started to fabricate rudimentary tools and objects. Presently, at the beginning of the third millennium, following the invention of the laser in 1960, the introduction of optical fibers for guiding light and computers for processing complex data and images, light-based techniques occupy a much larger place in the spectrum of NDE techniques and this is growing. Surface flaws and surface characteristics can now be analyzed by a range of advanced techniques that surpass simple visual inspection and are based on light scattering or optical profilometry. Techniques, such as Optical Coherence Tomography and Photon Density Waves Imaging, have also been developed to see through materials that are not transparent but only translucent. Also, from a single laser shot, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy could provide material composition and this in the most adverse industrial environment. Laser-based techniques, such as holography, shearography, speckle interferometry and laser-ultrasonics can even find flaws below the surface of completely opaque materials. In this presentation, a broad overview of all optics or laser-based NDE techniques will be presented, outlining their present industrial use and the perspectives. Jean-Pierre Monchalin received a diploma in optical engineering in Paris in 1968 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in lasers and optics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 1971 and 1976. He is presently Principal Research Officer at the Industrial Materials Institute of the National Research Council of Canada in Boucherville, Québec, Canada and head of the Optical Techniques group at the Institute. His doctoral work at MIT consisted of very accurate interferometric measurement in the infrared which led to a new value for the speed of light. He was then employed by École Polytechnique in Montréal and worked on chemical laser development, photoacoustic techniques and, in particular, on their application to the spectroscopy of powders. He has been involved with ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation since 1982. He is presently leading development work in laser and optical techniques to generate and detect ultrasound for industrial applications. He has published numerous papers and is the holder of sixteen patents in this field. He is a member of the Optical Society of America and of SPIE.