Assessing the reliability of the cargo deck of a hovercraft through fiber optic strain measurements

While traditional sensing systems can suffer from low spatial sampling density and often face significant operational challenges in the maritime environments routinely experienced by naval craft, fiber optics provide a distributed sensing solution that is insensitive to many of these environmental stressors. Through the use of fiber optic sensing systems, strain data was collected along the cargo deck of two naval hovercraft during various maneuvers and loading conditions. This work presents a methodology for translating those strain measurements into deflection estimates, and ultimately reliability analyses, through optimization and analytical modeling tools. Specifically, by treating the cargo deck of the hovercraft as a large, thin plate, direct relationships between strain, bending curvature, and deflection can be reliably established. Comparisons of probability distributions of maximum absolute deflections experienced during set maneuvers and loading conditions reveal differences in the response between the two craft. These differences are further explored in the context of reliability indices based on limit deflections. •Hovercraft are monitored during flight via fiber optic strain measurements.•Cargo deck deflections are estimated by calibrating a plate model via optimization.•Distributions of maximum deflection show differences in range of craft performance.•Reliability analyses reveal deflate events present greater uncertainty than inflate.