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Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of Aerospace EngineeringVolume 2013, Article ID 348532, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/348532

EditorialCondition-Based Maintenance

Nezih Mrad,1 Peter Foote,2 Victor Giurgiutiu,3 and Jérôme Pinsonnault4

1 Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), Centre for Security Science (CSS), National Defence Headquarters,Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0K7

2Manufacturing andMaterials Deptartment, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA4Bombardier Aerospace, Station Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, Canada H3C 3G9

Correspondence should be addressed to Nezih Mrad; [email protected]

Received 27 January 2013; Accepted 27 January 2013

Copyright © 2013 Nezih Mrad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The drive to reduce aircraft operation and support (O&S)costs, increase platform availability, and enhance their per-formance and safety has motivated researchers, technologydevelopers, aircraft manufacturers, and fleet operators toexplore effective concepts, methodologies, and technologiesas an alternative to the traditional schedule-based mainte-nance philosophy.

Condition-based maintenance (CBM), also known as“predictive maintenance,” is a maintenance practice thatderives maintenance requirements, in large part, from real-time assessment of platform or weapon system conditionobtained from embedded sensors and/or external tests andmeasurements using built-in diagnostic equipment. Whencoupled with real-time asset data, sophisticated materials,and structural and propulsion models, it promises the deliv-ery of enhanced effectiveness of maintenance programs,preventing unplanned downtime, making better use of main-tenance resources, and maximizing the operational life of theasset.

Our analysis indicated that the areas with the highestlevel of contribution to CBM are sensor technologies, healthassessment and analytics (diagnostic and prognostic meth-ods), communications technologies, and decisions support.This issue on CBM addresses all identified areas and focuseson maturing the understanding of the contributing conceptsand technologies to achieve a wider implementation of CBM,particularly in the aerospace and defence sectors.

Miller presented the use of a systems’ engineeringapproach to guide the development of integrated instru-mentation/sensor systems (IISS) and concluded that such

approach provides clear benefits in identifying the overallsystem requirements and architectural framework for catego-rizing and evaluating alternative architectures. While Millereffectively addressed the instrumentation functional featuressuch as interrogation of sensor types, sensors interfaces,multiplexing, and communication to provide flexibility andrapid system reconfiguration to adapt to evolving sensorand data needs, G. Rinaldi et al. focused on a specificstructural issue and presented a novel approach to aid in shift-ing time-based maintenance schedules towards condition-basedmaintenance procedures.Theproposednovel approachdemonstrated the innovation in the design of integratedmicroelectromechanical- (MEMS-) based multiparameterssensing using carbon nanotube/polyaniline polymer sensorsfor corrosion sensing and monitoring of aircraft structuralmaterials (e.g., aluminium alloys). Through fusion of themultiparameters sensor data (chloride ion concentration,hydrogen gas evolution, humidity variations, and materialdegradation), a corrosion index was developed to be used ina condition-based maintenance protocol consisting of bothpreventative and corrective maintenance scheduling. Dueto the criticality of sensor data in the CBM framework,Zhigang et al. presented a meticulous and well-thought-out review of piezoelectric-based acoustic wave generationand detection techniques for structural applications. Theyreviewed a variety of ingenious ways on how piezoelectrictransducers are used in today’s structural health moni-toring (SHM) methodologies as a means for generationand/or detection of diagnostic acoustic waves. Although thisreview presented three different approaches, all-piezoelectric

2 International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

approaches, hybrid approaches, and wireless excitation anddetection techniques, these can easily be integrated to providea more powerful solution to specific problems (e.g., wirelessfiber-acoustic approach).

While the above discussed contributions focused onaddressing sensor issues for structural applications, L. Jiangand A. Corber presented a thermal fluid dynamics modelingand analysis of a gas turbine engine combustor. This effortis to define the aerothermodynamic working environmentsand service histories that will enable the assessment of theremaining life of gas turbine critical components, hencesignificantly reducing the cost and time of gas turbine enginefleet management. Their results illustrated a complicated(uneven distribution) flow features inside a combustor andthe need for future improved modeling tools.

Not only key processes, technologies, concepts, andmethodologies are critical to the cost-effective implementa-tion of efficient CBM but also decisions support. S. Horninget al. developed and demonstrated an operational readinesssimulator for optimizing maintenance activities and opera-tional availability focussing on a rotary wing aircraft. Thedeveloped simulator provides a synthetic environment toforecast and assess the ability of a fleet, squadron, or aircraft toachieve the desired flying rates and the capability of the sus-tainment systems to respond to the resultant demands, whilemaintaining efficient and optimized maintenance program.They used this virtual simulator to assess several operationalscenarios including adjustment of preventative maintenanceschedules, including impact of condition-basedmaintenance,variation of the annual flying rate, and investigation ofdeployment options.

By compiling these selected papers, we hope to provide anopportunity to researchers, practitioners, and operators withthe opportunity to enrich their knowledge in increasing theoperational acceptability of the condition-basedmaintenanceapproach, particularly within the aerospace sector and airweapons systems.

Nezih MradPeter Foote

Victor GiurgiutiuJerome Pinsonnault

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