About ComPair

About ComPair

About the ComPair Project

Project Aims

To develop quantitative non-invasive NDT approaches for prompt assessment of composites during the manufacturing and assembly stages of the composite materials and structures.

To develop a health monitoring approach for the composite components on full scale structures.

To develop a robotic scanner that will accommodate the NDT approach for the in-situ testing of the structures during inspection and maintenance.

Project applications

• High and low speed trains
• Buses
• Trucks
• Trams

Project results

A multi-axis robotic scanner has been manufactured for in-service inspection of composite components using thermography NDT. The robotic scanner has the following features:

• Capability of carrying both thermographic and NIR equipment
• NDT procedures to perform reflection and transmission mode using the same scanner
• Ability to place and orientate the NDT equipment with 6 degrees of freedom
• Ability to inspect curved samples

A monitoring system has been developed featuring a dual-purpose NDT technique - based on AE and LRU - for health monitoring of full-scale composite structures during service. The integration of the two NDT techniques provides a dual-purpose sensor system able to successfully detect defects with good sensitivity.

ComPair Inspection system assessing curved 1mx1.3m CFRP panel

ComPair Software imaging and sentencing

AE activity measured by inspection system

LRU Guided wave activity measured by inspection system

The research, leading to the development of the ComPair system, provides an opportunity for automotive manufacturers to develop safer composite structures. The ComPair consortium aims to achieve additional market interaction with the automotive industry sector.