MAE Seminar: ALEX - The Medical Doctor of the Aerospace Industry

Abstract: Aerospace scientists and engineers have been working on the development of a medical doctor known as ALEX, whose primary function is to determine the health of aerospace structures. ALEX is founded on a holistic structural integrity process (HolSIP) framework, which considers that all failure mechanisms involved in the degradation of the structure are interconnected and so, should not be analyzed as merely the sum of individual mechanisms. In reality, many failure mechanisms interact synergistically and are much more complex and challenging to understand, and thus, the requirement for a holistic physics-based analysis and design approach. The final goal of HolSIP is to more accurately assess the reliability and structural integrity of these complex aerospace structures, and whenever possible contribute to extending their life. HolSIP requires many inputs to be able to provide the required outputs that structural integrity engineers need, in order to assess the remaining useful life of these structures relative to their original certification. In order to achieve such a goal, HolSIP combines research fields such as health usage monitoring, structural health monitoring, fatigue and environmental operational conditions. In this presentation, Martinez discusses some of the advancements in load monitoring, structural health monitoring, fatigue and their contribution to the development of ALEX.

Bio: Marcias Martinez graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) in 1995. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, he worked for the mass flow controller industry as a manufacturing engineer in Yorba Linda, California. In 1997, he returned to Canada to complete a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carleton University. In 2006, he completed his doctorate in the area of finite element analysis of smart material structures. While pursuing his doctoral studies, Martinez worked for over seven years in the telecommunications and biomedical industry where he gained valuable experience in mechanical design and thermal heat transfer analysis. In 2005, he joined the National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Aerospace Research, as an associate research officer, where he worked in the field of smart materials and structural health monitoring systems for aerospace applications. In 2012, Martinez moved to the Netherlands to become a full-time member of the faculty in aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). In addition, he is also an associate editor for the Journal of Intelligent Materials System and Structures. In 2015, Martinez was offered a position to come back to North America and join the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at Clarkson University. In his position at Clarkson, he continues to perform research on the development of a holistic structural integrity process for aerospace structures. At present, he continues to work in the field of structural integrity, and supervise and mentor graduate students, both at Clarkson University and TU Delft in the field of finite element analysis, experimental mechanics, smart materials and load monitoring.