Shape Sensing of a Doubly Curved Aft Fuselage Panel using Inverse Finite Element Method

In this paper, we monitor the deformation of a multi-layered aft fuselage structure with stiffened double-curved geometry using a sensor-based technique known as the inverse finite element method (iFEM). The iFEM is a shape sensing algorithm for the prediction of the static and dynamic structural response in real-time. In the current study, a powerful inverse shell element, called iQS4, is utilized to estimate the potential of iFEM in shape sensing analyses of aft fuselage structures with complex geometries. The obtained results prove that iFEM can reliably predict full-field displacements and strains of such composite structures with complex geometries by using sparse strain data collected from a few numbers of sensors onboard. In addition, the efficiency and accuracy of the iFEM approach are also assessed for broken/damaged sensors among other sensors.