Keynotes
Keynote Presentations
Structural Health Monitoring and Condition Based Maintenance for commercial aircraft structures: An Airbus perspective
Dr. Frank Hashagen
Head of the Airframe Competence Centre, Airbus
Airbus has engaged, with the rest of the aeronautic industry, in the development of Structural Health Monitoring since the early 2000’s. 25 years later, few SHM solutions are flying on commercial aircraft. Is this the end of an engineer’s dream, or the continuation of the journey? The route to Condition Based Maintenance will be enabled by emerging technologies such as Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence and novel maintenance concepts. Ultimately, airframes will only be inspected, when necessary, based on the individual aircraft usage and damage detection. In this presentation, we will review the past and present of SHM activity at Airbus, but most importantly, draw perspectives towards the adoption and integration of this technology on Commercial Airframes, highlighting the steps to be made and reviewing the challenges.
Bio: Dr. Frank Hashagen brings a robust background in Aerospace Engineering, holding both a Master's (1993, University of Stuttgart) and a PhD from TU Delft in the field, complemented by a Master's in Business Administration. He has amassed extensive international experience across all Airbus programs, specializing in airframe engineering functions including Stress, Fatigue and Damage Tolerance, Design, and Electrical/Mechanical Systems Installation and Aircraft Architecture. His leadership roles have spanned Airframe Architecture and R&T, Component design, and Quality Engineering. Currently, Dr. Hashagen serves as the Vice President, Head of the Airframe Competence Centre, leading a transnational organization of over 1100 engineers. Outside of his professional life, Frank is an avid glider pilot and enjoys outdoor pursuits such as skiing and running.
In the predictive maintenance world how we have move from reactive maintenance to a regulatory based Condition Based Maintenance program on the 787
Darren Macer
Senior Technical Fellow, Predictive Maintenance and Health Management, Boeing
Bio: Darren is a Senior Technical Fellow specializing in Predictive Maintenance and Health Management for both commercial and military platforms. He is the technical leader for the maintenance and development of the capabilities utilizing big data techniques, Model Based Engineering (MBE) philosophies such as digital system models and operational digital twin’s and applying those to operational data to understand components, systems or aircraft in detail. With this level of understanding and insight we can then determine current health and detect component or system degradation allowing us to drive proactive maintenance actions prior to component failure, turning unscheduled into scheduled maintenance. The capabilities that Darren has created has been utilized across the enterprise to solve fleet wide issues and led to the creation of an end-to-end sensor based, ML/AI enabled, predictive maintenance capability. The operational understanding and intelligence gained from these capabilities are also utilized in feedback loops into the design community to better understand how aircraft are being operated in service. Darren is leading the efforts to create operational digital threads and twins to incorporate Model Based Engineering capabilities into health management to enable predictive maintenance and condition-based maintenance capabilities, this is being used for existing platforms and driving requirements into new designs. Darren draws from 34 years in the aviation industry supporting commercial and military aircraft across design, manufacture, operation, modification and support. Looking forward I strive to enable a world of no surprises for vehicle operation, maintenance, support and services thorough appropriate understanding of signals from across the far reaches of the digital landscape within which we operate. This will enable better understanding, monitoring and data driven decision.
Concepts of Integrated Cyber-Physical Engineering Structures
Nick Lappos
Senior Fellow Emeritus Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company
The triple advantages of digital transformation, high fidelity sensing, and real time analysis present an opportunity to change our process for development and operation of engineered structures in a revolutionary matter. A cyber-physical system exists when the digital elements are incorporated with the same level of qualification and assurance as the primary structure, and therefore can be relied on as primary structural elements. In other words, for a cyber physical engineered system, the digital monitoring and control has the same integrity and reliability as the primary structural members. Heretofore, because of uncertainty in operational use, structural elements have been designed to incorporate margins of safety that assure adequate performance and ultimate safety throughout the life of the system. Furthermore, they were considered passive elements, unable to adapt to the operating circumstances. The sum of these margins of safety can be a very appreciable percentage of the cost, weight, and construction time, making these margins ripe for reduction using cyber physical concepts. With digital tools now available (such as real-time load and usage monitoring and sensing of detailed parameters, continuous analysis of systems behaviors and potentially digital control systems) it is possible to understand the structure as a total entity and to adjust and reallocate the design margins of safety to reflect ongoing operational experience. The strength, weight and cost of systems and components as defined in the design phase, can be reallocated during service life to continuously optimize operational capabilities and safety margins. This paper discusses these concepts and how they would apply to the development of structures of the future as well as retrofit on existing older structures. The challenge of how to implement these concepts and qualify them is discussed as we consider how to employ these methods in the future.
Bio: Nick Lappos is a Lockheed Martin Fellow for Advanced Technology. An Aerospace Engineering graduate of Georgia Tech, he joined Sikorsky Aircraft in 1973. He has served in a variety of roles at Sikorsky, including as program director for the S-92® helicopter during its development and certification. Under his leadership, the program earned the Robert J. Collier Trophy. Lappos also served as director of Test Engineering and as assistant chief pilot and Chief Research and Development test pilot, logging more than 8,000 hours of flight time in over 70 different types of helicopters. Lappos has participated in the development of aircraft such as the S76, UH-60, RAH-66, ABC, Fantail, Shadow, CH-53E, S92. He holds over 30 patents and three helicopter world speed records. He was appointed to the National Academy of Engineering and was Chairman of the NAE Committee on Advanced Air Mobility, which authored the report “Advancing Aerial Mobility, A National Blueprint.” He is co-chair of an AIAA Committee on Certification of Advanced Airmobile aircraft, which just released its report “Challenges to the Commercialization of Advanced Air Mobility”. Lappos is an Honorary Fellow of the VFS and is a Technical Fellow and Honorary Fellow of that society. He was awarded the VFS Nikolsky Lectureship in 2019, and the Feinberg Award three times. He is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He was awarded the Tenhoff Award of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and the Sir Barnes Wallis Medal from the UK Honorable Company of Air Pilots. He was elected as a Distinguished Graduate of the Aerospace Engineering School of Georgia Tech. Lappos has been a vice president for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., and a senior vice president and chief technology officer for Bell Helicopter, Textron. He has also served as Chairman of the Vertical Lift Consortium from 2012 to the present. He is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, where he flew Cobra helicopters. He lives in Cedar City Utah with his wife Mary, in an off-grid solar home of his own design.
Overview of Department of the Air Force Structures Bulletin addressing Structural Health Monitoring
Eric Lindgren
Nondestructive Evaluation Technology Lead in the Materials State Awareness Branch of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory
The Department of the Air Force recently published a new Structures Bulletin, EZ-SB-24-01, titled “Demonstration, Qualification, and Implementation of Structural Health Monitoring for Nondestructive Inspection of Aircraft Structure.” The presentation provides an overview of and insights to the document. The intent of the Structures Bulletin is to provide guidance to realize the use of structural health monitoring (SHM) as an alternative to traditional recurring nondestructive inspection (NDI). The document includes sections on establishing requirements that the SHM system must satisfy, defining the SHM system and it maturity, and the SHM system’s detection capability. The transition path for an SHM system is provided and is divided into seven elements. These include demonstrations, risk assessments, and cost benefit analysis. Each of the seven elements are described and is linked with perspectives of what is required to address each element. In addition, the Structures Bulletin is written to address safety critical inspections, but can accommodate tailoring to meet requirements of non-safety critical applications to provide guidance for maintenance and/or inform economic decisions. The qualifications requirements are evaluated on a case-by-case basis for each weapon system by the Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) Manager, the Chief Engineer, and the NDI team established for the program.
Bio: Dr. Lindgren is currently the Nondestructive Evaluation Technology Lead in the Materials State Awareness Branch of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Before joining AFRL in 2006, Eric worked as the Director of Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Sciences at SAIC Ultra Image. He has over 35 years of experience in NDE research, development, transition, and deployment, including efforts to develop and deploy advanced inspection methods for aerospace applications, transitioning basic research to inspections used on USAF aircraft structures, and developing materials characterization and process monitoring/control methods using NDE technology. He earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is a Fellow of AFRL and ASNT and is the US Co-National of Delegate for ICAF.
AI-Enhanced SHM Using Tensor Decomposition and Sparse Atomistic Models for Damage Monitoring of aeronautical composite structures
Nazih Mechbal
Full Professor and director of the Processes and Engineering in Mechanics and Materials Laboratory (PIMM – UMR CNRS) at Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, Paris
The development of robust Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) solutions for large structures, particularly in the aerospace sector, is increasingly challenged by the volume, variability and complexity of the data. While extensive experimental data are available for healthy structural states, data for damaged states remain limited and often require computationally intensive simulations. In addition, environmental and operational variations - such as temperature and loading - add further complexity to signal interpretation and model reliability. This work presents a hybrid methodology that integrates physical knowledge and machine learning with advanced signal representations to improve SHM performance under realistic conditions. First, we exploit the intrinsic multi-dimensional nature of SHM data through tensor decomposition, enabling compact, interpretable representations that improve damage monitoring. Second, we couple it with the Single Atom Convolutional Matching Pursuit framework, which redefines classical sparse decomposition techniques to construct accurate and efficient wave propagation models tailored to SHM applications. These methods are validated in the PIMM laboratory using a hierarchical dataset ranging from lab-scale coupon experiments to full-scale flight tests, including a case study involving several months of in-flight data from an A380 nacelle. The proposed approach demonstrates strong potential for scalable, transferable and reliable SHM, bridging the gap between numerical simulation and real-world deployment. Bio: Nazih Mechbal is a full professor and the director of the laboratory at (Paris). He has over 20 years' experience as a researcher, and his interests include developing and applying theoretical methods of automatic control and signal processing to smart structures, covering structural control, structural health monitoring and process control. He has managed and coordinated numerous industrial and public projects in this field.
Spaceborne Interferometry for Bridge Monitoring: advancing Structural Integrity Management through Remote Sensing
Maria Pina Limongelli
Associate Professor of Structural and Seismic Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Bridges are essential components of civil infrastructure, and ensuring their structural integrity is crucial for public safety and service continuity. Recent advancements in Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) have significantly enhanced our ability to remotely monitor structural behavior, offering a valuable complement to traditional inspection and sensor-based methods. While InSAR has been successfully applied in geohazard monitoring, its adaptation for civil structures - with smaller footprints and complex geometries - requires addressing specific technical challenges and aligning with engineering practices. This keynote explores the use of spaceborne InSAR for structural health monitoring of bridges, focusing on data accessibility, resolution limits, uncertainty quantification and the interpretation of displacement data for damage identification. The European Ground Motion Service (EGMS), part of the Copernicus program, provides valuable ground motion data across Europe using Sentinel-1 imagery. In addition to routine monitoring, InSAR holds substantial promise for post-event forensic analysis. It can help engineers investigate the underlying causes of bridge failures by revealing patterns of progressive displacement or subsidence leading up to collapse - critical information that traditional inspection and monitoring methods often miss. The recently published Italian guidelines for InSAR monitoring of civil structures, developed under a project funded by the Italian Civil Protection, provide essential standards and best practices for integrating InSAR into infrastructure management. The session concludes by discussing how InSAR can enhance asset management, early-warning systems, long-term resilience, and future research advancements in infrastructure maintenance, risk mitigation, and structural health monitoring.
Bio: Maria Pina Limongelli holds a PhD in Seismic Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Structural and Seismic Engineering. Her research focuses on Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil structures, with particular emphasis on vibration-based and remote monitoring techniques, value of information, and SHM standardization. Dr. Limongelli holds prominent roles in several committees and professional associations within the SHM and structural engineering fields. She is the Vice President of both IABSE and SCSHM, the President of EVACES, and a JCSS reporter. Additionally, she leads the Data Enhanced Infrastructure Management Committee of the Society of Civil Structural Health Monitoring. She serves on the editorial boards of several international peer-reviewed journals, including SHM Journal, Journal of Civil SHM, Engineering Structures, and Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering. Dr. Limongelli also coordinates and participates in multiple national and international research projects focused on Structural Health Monitoring, digitalization, and the resilience of bridge integrity management.
100th Anniversary of the Monitoring of Stevenson Creek Experimental Dam: Reflections on the Past and Future Advancements on Strain Sensing and StrainBased Monitoring of Civil Structures
Branko Glisic
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
The Stevenson Creek Experimental Dam was bult in 1924- 1925, with the aim of studying the structural behavior of arch concrete dams. To achieve the project objectives, two types of sensors were deployed: deflection sensors placed on for-thepurpose-built towers, and resistive strain sensors consisting of a stack of carbon discs, embedded inside the concrete. The centenary of this technological achievement, which represents the first application of modern monitoring technique in the United States of America, stimulates reflection on the past accomplishments and the future advancements on strain sensing and strain-based monitoring of civil structures. Hence, the aim of this presentation is to summarize the progress in strain sensing technologies and their impact on strainbased monitoring over the first hundred years, and to give a few glimpses about directions of future developments.
Bio: Prof. Branko Glišić received his degrees in Civil Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the EPFL, Switzerland. After eight-year experience at SMARTEC, Switzerland, where he was involved in numerous Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) projects, he has been employed since 2009 at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Princeton University, where he is serving as Chair since 2023.Prior to that, he served as Program Director in Archaeology. His research is in the areas of SHM, Smart Structures, and Heritage Structures. Prof. Glišić is researching fiber optic sensors, 2D sensors based on large area electronics, and 3D sensors based on radiofrequency devices; data analytics for diagnostics, prognostics, and decision-making based on structural analysis, machine learning and physics-informed machine learning; smart, kinetic, deployable, and adaptable structures; heritage structures and sites, and engineering and the arts.
Prof. Glišić is author and co-author of two books on SHM and one book on numismatics, 100+ published papers, several university courses, and short courses on SHM. He developed transdisciplinary courses on heritage structures that are attended by undergraduate and graduate students from all four divisions. He is an active member of several professional associations and journal editorial boards. Prof. Glišić is fellow of Society for Civil SHM (former ISHMII) and recipient of several awards including SHM Person of the Year Award, ASCE Moisseiff Award, and SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a recipient of two E-Council excellence in teaching awards.