Frequent flyer

Aircraft safety could be boosted by faster and more frequent inspections of wing structures if researchers can demonstrate that their methods are reliable. They plan to speed up the detection of defects in wings by monitoring the behaviour of low-frequency ultrasound.

The use of ultrasonics for non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring is spreading, but inspectors tend to use frequencies of 5MHz. 'Our guided ultrasound uses much lower frequencies, at about 100kHz,' said Dr Paul Fromme, project leader at

. 'Then it's like throwing a stone in water and seeing how the ripples spread.'

Fromme's team, which is collaborating with a major European aerospace company, will be working with two or three layers of aircraft-grade aluminium plates, with a combined thickness of up to 10mm, to see if it is possible to detect flaws in the materials or the fasteners. 'Our interest is in areas of the wing and possibly in the area where the wing is attached to the body,' said Fromme.