Industry Updates
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Industry Updates
Published online: 15 June 2007 Ó ASM International 2007
Pennsylvania Moves Forward with Bridge Crack Detection System Following the successful nondestructive testing of three bridges in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has prepared an on-call contract with Materials Technologies, Inc. (MATECH) for the entire state. PennDOT had engaged MATECH to use its Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor (EFS) for special inspections of the three bridges, each of which were part of interstate highways in diverse areas of the state. Officials were impressed with the work and cost effectiveness of the results and believe MATECH has already saved them on the order of $50,000 as well as possibly avoiding the closure of one of their main bridges, saving more money and potentially lives. Because the EFS can find growing cracks and an indication of their rate of growth, PennDOT told MATECH they can sleep better at night knowing if a known crack is growing or not. The EFS can find growing cracks in bridges, including cracks below the surface, as small as 0.01 inches. For more information: Materials Technologies, Inc., 11661 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 707, Los Angeles, CA 90049; tel: 310/208-5589; fax: 310/473-3177; e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.matechcorp.com.
Program, involving a full-size V-22 aircraft, began in June 1998 and is the first ever conducted for a tiltrotor type aircraft. The Test Team conducted 60,000 simulated flights that included takeoffs, airplane and helicopter maneuvers, landings, and ground maneuvers during the 20,000 flight hours of low-cycle load testing, covering the equivalent of two lifetimes on control surfaces and aft fuselage structures. ‘‘The test is a durability test, but the purpose is to identify areas we have issues with and either design
V-22 Fatigue Test Aircraft Surpasses 20,000 Effective Flight Hours The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey program’s Airframe Fatigue Test Program surpassed the 20,000 Effective Flight Hour (EFH) milestone on February 22, 2007. The Fatigue Test
Fig. 1 Ó2006 Spark Design Engineering
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production repairs or allow redesign of components for future aircraft,’’ said team member Werner Idler of Bell. The team conducted fatigue tests in a 250,000 lb steel fixture holding the fuselage and wing structure of the V-22. The test article has 127 computer-controlled hydraulic cylinders and 418 sensors to record up to two billion data points for each 10,000-hour lifetime. The test fixture contains 5.25 miles of wire and two miles of hydraulic hose all subject to intense inspection. For more information: Textron World Headquarters, 40 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903; tel: 401/4212800; web: www.textron.com.
‘‘Flying Car Company’’ Takes Off After many years pioneering with well-known parties such as the Dutch Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) creating a flying and driving vehicle, John Bakker formed a management team and recruited employees to start PAL-V Europe. Investors have been found to back the start-up, and currently init
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