ROC curves for evaluating sensor performance as low energy impacts damage a composite wing

Abstract

Eight fiber Bragg gratings and 3 ICP accelerometers attached to the upper surface of a foam core composite wing (1320 mm X 152.4 mm X 13.4 mm) were used to record the wing's response to broad band (0 - 1500 Hz) Gaussian excitation following a series of low energy (-6.5 J) impacts to the surface of the wing. For each damage level, at least 15 measurements were made over a period of three days to enable a statistical evaluation of each sensor's performance. Damage detection relied on measuring nonlinearity in the response data using a second order correlation metric called the Bicoherence. The amplitudes of any peaks seen in the Bicoherence were compared with thresholds determined from the variance in the off diagonal terms in the Bicoherence measurement. This approach allows the evaluation of both the probability of detection (POD) and the probability of false alarms (PFA) for each measurement without the need for a healthy baseline. The results show that all eight FBGs out perform the accelerometers and that one FBG in particular is more sensitive to nonlinearity than the others. The measurement sensitivity of the Bicoherence is also compared with static tip deflection measurements.