{"id":114310,"date":"2020-10-09T08:54:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T12:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=114310"},"modified":"2020-10-21T15:26:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T19:26:35","slug":"ucf-professor-receives-grant-to-determine-how-cracks-in-aircraft-components-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-professor-receives-grant-to-determine-how-cracks-in-aircraft-components-start\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Professor Receives Grant to Determine How Cracks in Aircraft Components Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

One small crack in an aircraft component<\/a> can lead to major problems. The cracks can grow fast and damage metal components to the point of failure, but they are often hard to detect.<\/p>\n

In an effort to stop this problem as it starts, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently awarded UCF aerospace engineering Assistant Professor Ranajay Ghosh a $100,000 grant.<\/p>\n

Ghosh and his co-principal investigator, aerospace engineering Professor Seetha Raghavan, will develop sophisticated computer models to pinpoint the initial stages of stress-corrosion cracking.<\/p>\n

Stress-corrosion cracking occurs when stress and corrosion create cracks in metal aircraft components such as engines, wings and landing gears. These are also the areas that can quickly lead to catastrophic failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cracks often initiate at sub-micron or even nanometer length scales and thus can stay undetected for quite some time,\u201d Ghosh says. \u201cBy the time the cracks are visible, damage is already well underway.\u201d<\/p>\n