BEASY is working on a project supported by the United States Navy Sea Based Aviation Program and the Air Force to validate and develop computational corrosion modelling tools which can be used to predict the location and severity of corrosion within aircraft structures. The increased use by engineers of corrosion simulation tools during design and maintenance has the aim of improving the durability of an aircraft through better material selection, improved corrosion resistant design, and better predictive maintenance schemes. Improved aircraft durability will ultimately reduce fleet maintenance and life-cycle corrosion costs.
Experimental test configuration with an Aluminum plate connected to an Stainless Steel Plate.
The plates are segmented so that the distribution of current can be measured
The work is building upon the BEASY Corrosion Manager software and is extending this technology to predict the long term galvanic corrosion risk to structures. We envision that this modelling technology will support a radical change in design philosophy for aircraft and other vehicle structures by providing engineers with corrosion simulation tools needed for current and future corrosion challenges.
In conjunction with Luna Innovations Inc and the University of Virginia experimental tests have been performed to validate the galvanic corrosion models under "bulk" electrolytes and thin film conditions. For example good agreement has been obtained across a range of electrolyte film thicknesses comparing measured and model predictions of the corrosion current density distribution across a segmented electrode test specimen as shown in the figures. Details of this study will be published NACE Corrosion 2018.
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