Load Monitoring and Estimation Technology: A Key Enabler to Ensuring Rotorcraft Structural Integrity for Complex Systems

This paper discusses key enablers of a substantiation process that can support both the structural integrity and maintainability goals for either existing or new platforms as they are upgraded with complex systems or other emerging technologies. A new approach to substantiate and maintain rotorcraft structural integrity throughout the operational life cycle can be acquired through the Structural Usage Monitoring System (SUMS) tools employed for Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) systems, with the load monitoring and estimation functionality viewed as a key enabler for the substantiation process. The decision-makers trade space is briefly discussed in this paper, and an example is provided for illustration.