Application of the digital clone framework for SHM systems through the building block scales

A major challenge for the industrial adoption of guided wave based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems in the aerospace industry is the reliable prediction of the system’s response under a wide range of damage scenarios and operational conditions. Extensive experimental campaigns in large scale composite aeronautical structures however are not feasible. The digital clone framework, presented in [1], combines numerical simulations with experimental observations and is employed here to leverage information collected at the lower scales of the building block, where a larger number of samples can be tested, to make estimations on the system’s response at higher scales. The aim is to develop a methodology that can estimate the SHM indications in the presence of damage considering the underlying uncertainties. Experimental observations at the coupon scale (0.3m) are used for initial training and the up-scaling capability of the methodology is validated against tests performed on a 1.6m flat stiffened panel. The estimations of the proposed approach agree with the experimental values while subsequent recalibration as more observations become available can further improve the predictions.