Enhanced Passive Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System

The proposed MSC Ultrasonic Mode Imaging (UMI) analysis Prototype Development and Demonstration Project is a one-year project commencing in July 2023 where hull monitoring will be continued in USNS NEWPORT (or alternate T-EPF ship) with the NASA SBIR developed prototype sensors and electronics. The technology development will provide passive monitoring coverage of the inboard and outboard hull areas of the Port and Starboard Ride Control Equipment Rooms with four eight-channel sensor arrays installed and maintained by Antech Systems and operated by the ship’s crew to monitor for cracks in the hull areas in real time while underway. Strain gauges will be used to measure stress levels that create cracks, and Crack Management functionality in the UMI software will be upgraded. In addition, Antech Systems will develop the mechanical source, dispersion curve libraries associated with various defects, and the tomographic imaging software to display results and perform active UMI measurements in USNS NEWPORT (or alternate T-EPF ships) to demonstrate the ability of the active UMI technology to detect defects in large structural areas, tank walls, and inner bottoms. The active UMI monitoring capability is an extension of and significantly enhances the passive UMI technology by using the same sensors and electronics and actively interrogating structures for defects and wall thinning. Specific hardware development will include: 1) Testing the Phase II prototype sensor and up to four variant sensor designs to improve sensitivity between 1 and 2 MHz; 2) Developing a new Power over Ethernet (POE) module to eliminate some minor noise encountered in the prototype board; 3) Developing a capability to selectively sample the wave form signal at the original prototype rate of 2.5 MHz and adding a 1 MHz capability. These developments are aimed at extending the effective range of the hardware to pick up guided wave signals and improve the commercial usefulness of UMI.

• Passive UMI monitoring of space vehicles and orbiting space stations to identify location and severity of leaks and impacts to the protective envelope in real time, evaluating the bond line and in-depth integrity of ablative materials such as heat shields. • Passive UMI monitoring and active UMI interrogation of high-pressure composite tanks, composite structural components, and large metallic structures. • Passive UMI monitoring of reusable vehicles such as Lunar Lander payloads while in transit to Launchpad to identify crack generation.

Passive UMI monitoring and active UMI interrogation of: • Navy and commercial ship hulls, piping, tanks, pressure vessels, and structures - manned and unmanned • Petrochemical industry leak detection in aboveground storage tanks and pipelines • Structural integrity monitoring and evaluation of bridges, tunnels, high tension power poles, buildings, and DOT regulated high-pressure composite cylinders

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.