Polymeric layered composites exhibit a variety of damages following in service loading conditions, like delamination, matrix cracking or even fibre breaking. Detection of such damages and assessing their extension and severity is vital during maintenance cycle, in view of keeping the normal operational reliability. For local inspections, IR thermography and ultrasonic scanning are among the best valued NDT methods. The paper describes the inspections performed by IR active thermography, in different variants, and pulse-echo ultrasonic scanning on GFRP. A variety of layered composites and defects/damages were inspected and the results are evaluated independently, in some cases being compared each other, with valuable conclusions for the users of the mentioned NDI techniques.
The last years a large number of vehicles have been developed for their mobility characteristics over rough terrains. The new modular walking robot MERO* (MEchanism Robot- *Pelecudi Ch et.al.) by reconfiguring their architecture are built to displace the heavy loads on the rough terrains. The main characteristic of the modular walking robot is that they are able to move away on not arranged, horizontal and rough terrains. The modular mechatronic system protect much better the environment when its contact with the soil is discrete, a fact that limits appreciately he area that is crushed. Operation of autonomous walking robot MERO movement implies the existence of a close link between planning movements, environmental perception and executions order to obtain an appropriate behaviour in weakly structured environments. For further acquisition of terrain information, we propose installed active force sensor for terminal leg. This paper describes the detailed design and the prototype characterization of a novel tactile sensor force/moment sensor for MERO an intelligent walking robot’s .
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