Presentation: Vibration-based damage detection and localisation on a trainer jet aircraft wing

Vibration-based damage detection and localisation on a trainer jet aircraft wing Gabriele Dessena1, Marco Civera2, Andrés Marcos1, Bernardino Chiaia2, and Oscar E. Bonilla-Manrique3 1Department of Aerospace Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés,Madrid, Spain 2Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy 3Electronic Technology Department, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés,Madrid, Spain 17th October 2025 Madrid, Spain 15th European Aerospace Science Network Conference [email protected] SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Outline 1. Contributions 2. Background 3. Motivation 4. Structural health monitoring 5. The Loewner framework 6. Proposed damage assessment strategy 7. BAE Systems Hawk T1A 8. Experimental results 9. Conclusions 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 2 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Contributions •Repurpose the modified total modal assurance criterion (MTMAC) as a damage index •Apply the improved Loewner framework (iLF) for structural health monitoring (SHM) •Carry out SHM on the recent BAE Systems Hawk T1A jet trainer aircraft 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 3 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Background •Aeronautical design and operations are based on the concepts of fail-safe and safe-life. •Passive damage mitigations •And intrusive non-destructive testing (NDT) •An on-time damage assessment would improve the operational efficiency and the downtime •In other engineering disciplines, vibration-based damage detection is very popular •Civil engineering above all •Perturbed by dimensionality and operational effects •Most of the SHM work is carried out in operational and single-input experimental setups •There is a lack of methods applied to multiple-input scenarios •And a lack of dataset! 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 4 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Motivation •Vibration-based SHM relies on modal parameters •Their direct comparison is cumbersome for large systems •Full airframe or large aircraft parts are seldom analysed in SHM •Specifically for multiple-input, multiple-output systems •Some specific applications require all •Efficient modal parameter identification methods are available in the open domain •Improved Loewner framework (iLF) 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 5 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Structural health monitoring •Damage is a change in a system that alters its operational capacity •SHM is the field that studies ways to detect damage •Why important? Damage can be •Obvious •Or not •A plethora of methods and theories exist •Here, we focus on vibration-based damage detection 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 6 Credits to Michael Williams 1.Credits Tennessee Aircraft Services, Inc. 2. Retrieved from 3. Cracks 1. https://www.michaelstewartwilliams.com/bird-strike-in-a-cessna-172/ 2. https://www.tennesseeaircraft.net/2016/01/20/177-series-wing-spar-cap-cracks/ 3. E. Figueiredo and J. Brownjohn, ‘Three decades of statistical pattern recognition paradigm for SHM of bridges’, Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 3018–3054, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.1177/14759217221075241. SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Structural health monitoring •Vibration-based damage detection •Based on modal parameters •Natural Frequencies (𝜔𝜔𝑛𝑛) •Damping ratios (𝜁𝜁𝑛𝑛) •Mode shapes (𝝓𝝓𝑛𝑛) •𝜔𝜔𝑛𝑛 work well for detection and intensity •Change = damage, larger change = more damage •𝜁𝜁𝑛𝑛 unreliable due to uncertainty •𝝓𝝓𝑛𝑛 work well for intensity and localisation •Change in trajectory = damage point •More deviation = greater damage 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 7 Retrieved from 1. Retrieved from 1. 1. G. Dessena, M. Civera, A. Pontillo, D. I. Ignatyev, J. F. Whidborne, and L. Zanotti Fragonara, ‘Noise-robust modal parameter identification and damage assessment for aero-structures’, AEAT, vol. 96, no. 11, pp. 27–36, Oct. 2024, doi: 10.1108/aeat-06-2024-0178. SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing The Loewner Framework •Relies on the Loewner Matrix (𝕃𝕃 – 1930s) •From the 80s, Antoulas and coauthor have: •Defined a connection between the 𝕃𝕃 and rational approximation •Resulted in the application of 𝕃𝕃 as a rational interpolant •Model order reduction (MOR) in the frequency domain •Applications to MOR •Electrical circuits •Unsteady Aerodynamics 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 8 1. A. C. Ionita, "System Identification," Antonio Cosmin Ionita – Rice University, [Online]. Available: https://aci.rice.edu/system-identification/. [Accessed: May 19, 2025]. 2. Quero, D., Vuillemin, P., & Poussot-Vassal, C. (2019). A Generalized State-Space Aeroservoelastic Model Based on Tangential Interpolation. Aerospace, 6(1), 9. MIMO circuit LF ROM, from1. Theodersen’s function fit from2. SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing The Loewner Framework (Cont’d) •How does it work? •Interpolation technique •Exploiting data partitioning for tangential interpolation •The idea: •Given a linear time-invariant system •𝐄𝐄𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝐱𝐱(𝑡𝑡) = 𝐀𝐀𝐱𝐱(𝑡𝑡) + 𝐁𝐁𝐁𝐁(𝑡𝑡); 𝐲𝐲(𝑡𝑡) = 𝐂𝐂𝐱𝐱(𝑡𝑡) + 𝐃𝐃𝐁𝐁(𝑡𝑡) •A Laplace transfer function can be fitted •𝐇𝐇𝑠𝑠 =𝐂𝐂s𝐄𝐄−𝐀𝐀−1𝐁𝐁 •𝐃𝐃=𝟎𝟎 (no feedthrough) •Modal parameters extracted from eigenanalysis of the system matrices •The MIMO version for modal analysis is known as improved Loewner Framework (iLF) 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 9 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Conclusion •The iLF can detect small damage-related changes in the BAE Systems Hawk T1A aircraft port modal parameters; •The MTMAC can be used as a damage assessment and quantification index; •Damage was successfully detected and localised in 2 cases of the dataset, using the proposed two-step method. •Future work: reverse engineer a numerical model of the BAE Systems Hawk T1A aircraft to carry out model-based SHM •More results on the application shown here: 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 16 SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Acknowledgements Multiannual agreement with UC3M - IA_aCTRl-CM-UC3M project 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 17 The authors thank the LVV at the University of Sheffield for making the BAE Systems Hawk T1A dataset openly available. CEAS EuroGNC conference 2026 hosted at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid May 5th – 7th 2026 Organizing committee Local Organizing Committee Andrés Marcos, UC3M, Conference Chair Rafael Vázquez, Universidad de Sevilla, Conf. Deputy Chair Diego Navarro-Tapia, UC3M, Local Arrangements Chair Gabriele Dessena, UC3M, International Arrangements Chair CEAS GNC Technical Committee Nicolas Fezans, DLR, Chair of the Committee Raziye Tekin, Roketsan, Co-chair of the Committee TC member roster, see conference webpage Conference Venue The EuroGNC 2026 conference will be hosted at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). The conference venue is located in the city center, at the Campus Puerta de Toledo. Numerous famous monuments, museums, and parks can be reached in less than 20-30 min on foot, with metro/bus stations also available just outside the conference venue. Madrid is a vibrant city known for its rich cultural heritage, lively atmosphere and warm hospitality. Madrid generally enjoys pleasant weather in May. Attendees can also look forward to experiencing the city’s renowned tapas scene. Topics: •Control Theory, Analysis and Design •Applications of GNC •Intelligent Control/AI in Aeronautics/Astronautics •Aerospace Robotics •Novel Navigation, Estimation and Tracking methods •Sensor Systems for GNC •Flight Mechanics, Dynamics, and Simulation •Modelling for Aerospace Systems •Flight Testing and Experimental Results Key dates September 30th, 2025 Full Paper Submission Deadline Nov/Dec, 2025 Author notification February 20th, 2026 Final Paper Submission Deadline Jan/Feb, 2026 End of Early-Bird Registration May 5th-7th, 2026 EuroGNC Conference in Madrid Please enquire if you have a full paper ready/ or ready by the 30th of October Opportunity for students to present their theses in a dedicated poster session Deadline: Feb 2026 Organising committee Organising Committee Erasmo Carrera, Politecnico di Torino, General Chair Yongming Liu, Arizona State University, Technical Chair Ibrahim Guven, Virginia Commonwealth University, Technical Vice-Chair Tracks: •Structures •Structural dynamics •Materials Key dates November 3rd, 2025 Abstract Deadline November 12th, 2025 Author notification Structural dynamics track 1. Aero-, Servo-, Thermo-Elasticity of Aircraft, Rotorcraft and Spacecraft 2. Rotordynamics 3. Aeroacoustics and Vibroacoustics 4. Nonlinear Dynamics and Flexible Multibody Dynamics 5. Dynamic Loads, Wave Propagations, Response, Vibration, Control, and Alleviation of Aerospace Structures and Vehicles 6. Computational Methods and Modelling 7. Experimental Studies in Structural Dynamics 8. Machine Learning in Structural Dynamics and Aeroelasticity 9. Model Uncertainties and Uncertainty Quantification in Structural Dynamics 10. General Topics of Structural Dynamics of Aircraft, Rotorcraft, and Spacecraft Structures Invitation to submit to •Nonlinear Dynamics and Flexible Multibody Dynamics •Experimental Studies in Structural Dynamics Topic organiser: Gabriele Dessena, UC3M SHM on a trainer jet aircraft wing Thank you for your attention! Main bibliography •G. Dessena and M. Civera, ‘Improved tangential interpolation-based multi-input multi-output modal analysis of a full aircraft’, European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.euromechsol.2024.105495. •J. Wilson, M. D. Champneys, M. Tipuric, R. Mills, D. J. Wagg, and T. J. Rogers, ‘Multiple-input, multiple-output modal testing of a Hawk T1A aircraft: a new full-scale dataset for structural health monitoring’, Structural Health Monitoring, 2024, doi: 10.1177/14759217241297098. 17th October 2025 Dessena et al – 15th EASN 2025 20 Presentation download ResearchGate profile