Douglas E. Adams

tel: 765 449 4249
fax: 765 494 0787
E-mail: deadams@ecn.purdue.edu
Web: https://engineering.purdue.edu/PCSI/

Area of Expertise

Health monitoring and prognosis of engineered materials and structures; condition-based & predictive maintenance of automotive/aerospace systems

Biography

Dr. Douglas Adams is a University Faculty Scholar and Director of the Purdue Center for Systems Integrity, which focuses on engineering research and development in structural health monitoring and damage prognosis for automotive & aerospace systems. He has graduated 18 MS/PhD students, published more than 150 papers, and delivered over 60 invited presentations worldwide including several keynote addresses. He has also published a textbook on Health Monitoring of Structural Materials and Components. Dr. Adams has won numerous wards for research and teaching including the Presidential Early Career Award, Structural Health Monitoring Person of the Year Award, and is listed in the Purdue Book of Great Teachers. He specializes in nonlinear vibration and wave propagation based methods of structural diagnostics/prognostics. Many of his discoveries have been implemented by industry for improving the reliability of engineered systems.

Lecture Title(s)

Sense, Predict, & Remediate - The Science and Application of Health Monitoring in Engineered Systems
Revolutionary advances in sensing technology are making it possible for the first time to monitor how engineered systems such as ground vehicles, aircraft, and spacecraft behave as we operate them. If the owners and operators of these systems could predict if, how, and when failures might occur, the safety and cost of flying aircraft and launching spacecraft could be dramatically improved. However, there are major challenges associated with the processing of the vast amount of data that can be collected. Engineering models that capture the physical processes associated with materials/structures and their degradation are needed to diagnose the condition of these systems and prognosticate their future. New operational and control strategies such as condition-based maintenance are also needed to translate predictions into actions that enhance the safety of space flight and the functionality of missiles. The underlying theory associated with various sensing modalities, diagnostic algorithms, and prognostic techniques are described in the context of applications (e.g., wind turbine blades, wheels, suspensions, helicopter fuselage, satellites, armor, etc.).