Aerospace giant Boeing attracted to USQ's research capabilities

The agreement solidified the relationship between Boeing and USQ

It was USQ's expertise and research capabilities that first attracted aerospace giants Boeing to the University.

Now the relationship which has developed over the past 12 months has been solidified after several representatives from Boeing visited USQ last week to sign an agreement with the University’s Centre of Excellence in Engineering Fibre Composites (CEEFC).

The agreement will allow the Centre to undertake groundbreaking research in an area vital to the aerospace industry by placing USQ at the forefront of research into structural health monitoring in aerospace composite structures, a process that identifies the damages to the critical part of a structure and assesses the damage; a sort of early warning system which for aerospace structures is very important.

'At the start of this year myself and two representatives from Boeing US Research and Technology came out to USQ to look at the facilities and capabilities of the University,' Boeing Through Life Support Research Program Lead Peter Birt said.

'USQ initially approached us about working with them and said that there was a PhD scholarship available for someone to work in the area of structural health monitoring through the University and we felt that after our initial visit there was the potential for collaboration.'

USQ Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering lecturer and CEEFC member Dr Jayantha Epaarachchi said that the signing formalised the close working relationship that the University and Boeing had shared for some time.

'Since 2006 I have been conducting research at the CEEFC in structural health monitoring, which is a research interest of mine,' Dr Epaarachchi said.

'About a year ago we approached Boeing Australia and asked if they would be interested in participating in some research in this area that we thought would be beneficial for them.

'We have been working with them ever since, not just with Boeing Australia but also Boeing US who visited the CEEFC and have also shown interest in the work that we are doing here.'

To help continue this research Boeing recently agreed to sponsor the new scholarship through the CEEFC, which would be used to improve the process of assessing the structural health of aerospace structures.

'The scholarship recipient is PhD student Gayan Kahandawa, who will conduct research on using fibre optic sensors to carry out structural health monitoring.

'Fibre optic sensors will allow structural health monitoring to be undertaken without damaging the structure, which can happen when it is carried out in other ways.

'Boeing has agreed to contribute $10,000 per year for three years to the scholarship.'

Mr Birt added that the research could potentially have a large impact on the aviation industry.

'Through this scholarship and research we want to get a better understanding of the use of optical sensors in assessing the structural health monitoring in our aircraft.

'There needs to be a lot of research in this area before we look at putting it too use and the concept has to be proven but this could be part of the future of aviation.'

Research into the use of fibre optic sensors is already underway with Mr Kahandawa starting his research at the CEEFC three weeks ago.

Contact Details:
Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2559 or 0400 025 429