REU Student: Kari Van Tassel, Mentors: Mark Hinders and Eugene Malyarenko

In recent years, the structural failure of aircraft due to unnoticed small cracks or areas of corrosion has gained much publicity. The importace of detecting these flaws is especially important for commercial airlines that use older planes for short trips. The increased number of takeoffs and landings add to the likelihood that the aircraft will develop defects, since changes in pressure cause stress on the fuselage. There are several theories as to the most efficent way to perform a non-destructive inspection of the aircraft skins, including various methods of tomographic imaging. Tomography refers to the generation of a cross-sectional image of an object by sending and collecting data from different angles through the object. One of the methods now being tested is that of inducing and receiving ultrasonic waves in the material. The goal is to produce a lightweight detection system consisting of an array of transducers which can send and received signals and analyze the results, converting them to an image of the scanned area. From this image, the severity of the flaws and the safety of the airplane can be determined.