Composite smart skins for airborne structures

The composite smart skin approach to airborne structures advances the capability of monito ring and controllingforces acting upon the structure. These capabilities include the ability to characterize and control the external boundary layer condition acting upon the structure, control of internal vibrations as causedfromforces acting upon and within the structure and damage localization along the structure. The inclusion of the smart skins, and hence the localization for control, is within the composite air wings of the airborne structure. With the advent of composites as the fabrication material ofchoice in recent airborne structures, newproblems result in the composite structure from forces offlow znd vibration. Additionally, damage within these composites is dfflcult to realize and can potentially lead to criticalfatigue conditions throughout the structure. The smart skin approach offers the potentialfor early warning and control over such problems.