Real-Time Structural Monitoring Using the Inverse Finite Element Method: A Review of Experimental Applications in Aerospace Engineering

The realization of an efficient Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system strongly depends on the availability of tools that can accurately detect the structural condition during operational life. This detection can be achieved by means of physical sensors, which can provide information on the mechanical state of a structure. However, the installation of several sensors is often impractical or even impossible for systems operating in complex environments, such as aerospace, marine, and civil structures. In this context, the inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) was developed. This algorithm is based on the finite element discretization of the structural domain. iFEM is able to reconstruct two physical quantities crucial for assessing the health status of a structure, the displacement and the stress fields, from a reduced number of easily installable physical strain sensors and without the need to know the loading conditions and the material properties. The method is extremely accurate and computationally efficient. These characteristics make it suitable for the real-time monitoring of structures and crucial for feeding the SHM framework with sufficient data using only a few sensors installed. Several works have proved the method’s accuracy when strain data are collected and processed offline. For the first time, this work presents an overview of the implementation of structural digital twins of several structures through the use of iFEM as a real-time monitoring system. In this study, both simple structures, such as a cantilevered beam, and more complex ones, such as a half-wing, are monitored live. In the presented applications, the data from the real structure is broadcast through an internet network so that the data from the sensors can feed the digital twin model remotely. These applications demonstrate that iFEM enables real-time monitoring, representing a significant step forward in the realization of the digital twin paradigm.