Commercial Aircraft Units for Blunt Impact Study

San Diego Composites, Inc. (SDC) is nearing delivery of two additional stiffened fuselage test panels for Sandia National Labs and the FAA for their research on wide area blunt impact of composite aircraft. Blunt impact resulting from collisions of ground vehicles and equipment as well as from hail and bird strikes, is a significant source of damage to commercial aircraft with the potential to go by undetected. SDC has been supporting UC San Diego, Bishop GmbH (Germany), and Sandia

National Labs in this multi-year effort funded by the FAA and EASA. Team members also include Boeing and Airbus.In one of the panels, SDC worked with Luna Innovations to integrate an embedded fiber optic network. The network was co-cured into the composite skin and the fiber optics will be used as an active sensor, which will provide full distributed strain measurements and extensive data on impact damage. This innovation is an example of how SDC incorporates advanced technologies to provide better composite products.