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The Aircraft Aging and Durability (AAD) Project is part of the Aviation
Safety Program (AvSafe). AvSafe builds upon the unique safety-related
research capabilities of NASA to improve aircraft safety for current
and future civilian and military aircraft, and to overcome aircraft
safety technological barriers that would otherwise constrain the full
realization of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).
AAD focuses on aging and damage processes in "young" aircraft, rather
than life extension of legacy vehicles, and emphasizes new and emerging
material systems/fabrication techniques and the potential hazards associated
with aging-related degradation. AAD's goal is to take a proactive approach
to identifying aging-related hazards before they become critical, and to developing
technology and processes to incorporate aging mitigation and maintenance into the
design of future aircraft.
AAD performs foundational research in aging science that ultimately
yields multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization capabilities that
enable system-level integrated methods for the detection, prediction
and mitigation/management of aging and durability-related hazards for
future civilian and military aircraft. Specific objectives include:
- deliver specific products to address end-user problems and needs, and
- develop fundamental technology (not specific to a single application) to enable integrated multi-disciplinary tools.
AAD research is organized by three theme areas:
- Detect – locate and fully characterize damage or degradation of materials and structures
- Predict – develop life and strength predictions accounting for accumulated damage associated with long-term exposure to thermal/mechanical/environmental loads
- Mitigate – develop concepts to prevent, contain or manage degradation associated with aging
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About Aircraft Aging
Aircraft aging is a significant national issue. For economic reasons, commercial airline carriers
and the Department of Defense (DoD) are flying their vehicles longer, often exceeding the original
design service life of the vehicles. The average age of the commercial fleet, which reduced after
9/11 as older vehicles were parked, is increasing, particularly in the wide-body class. The DoD is
replacing its fleet at less than half the rate required to even maintain the current average age.
There is also technology pull for aging-related research for space applications. Both NASA and the
DoD are confronted with maintaining their aging space assets, and the Space Exploration Initiative
with long-endurance flight missions and habitats will
have elevated durability requirements.
Previous research in aging has maintained sufficient safety for current vehicles, but with
significant labor and economic costs. The cost of aging has a compound nature as growing sustainment
costs reduce the ability to purchase new vehicles. Previous research has been largely reactive in
nature and based more on observations than on fundamental understanding.
Emerging civilian and military aircraft (A380, B787, YF-22, JSF) are introducing (in primary
structures applications) advanced material systems, fabrication techniques, and structural
configurations for which there is very limited service history, and there is concern over the
ability to ensure continued airworthiness of these aircraft over their life cycles.
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