Shrinking military budgets often necessitate the use of vehicles and aircraft well beyond their service lives. For example, according to STARS and STRIPES, among the Navy’s concerns is a rapidly aging Ready Reserve Force of 46 transport ships, which each … Read More
Distributed fiber optic sensing has traditionally been a steep entry price technology to get behind. It has been a common issue for many years that has led many engineers to look for other alternatives when they see the price tag. … Read More
One widespread application where FOS technology exhibits superior performance over foil strain gauges is in the fatigue testing of components, sub-assemblies, and full-scale structures. Demand for full-scale fatigue testing continues to increase, specifically in the aerospace industry where there is … Read More
Any experienced experimental stress analysis engineer would agree that the quality of a strain gauge installation greatly influences the accuracy of the measurement. Simply put, a strain gauge can only function as intended if the substrate strain is transferred to … Read More
In contrast to the stiff, rigid wings found on most commercial aircraft, flexible wing technology is considered essential to next generation, fuel efficient aircraft. However, flexible wings are susceptible to “flutter,” or highly destructive aeroelastic instability. The Lockheed Martin X-56A … Read More
