Composite Structures

Safety Management

Dr. Bjorn F. Backman

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780080564975
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Composite Structures extends the focus to all the entities that participate in the successful quest for safety and demonstrates how design, manufacturing, maintenance, (inspection), operation, and requirements (regulations) all are part of successful, safe innovation and necessary to assure safe flight through the life of the vehicle. It addresses the notion that safety is a function of time and that vigilant risk management is only successful if it includes all participating entities.

It is a companion to the author's first volume, Composite Structure: Design, Safety and Innovation, published by Elsevier in June 2005.

• Eliminates an unacceptable 'gap' in the world of safety
• Represents a 'new' approach to designing, manufacturing, maintaining, operating and regulating composite airplane structures
• Written for professionals in the aerospace structural development arena whether in indusrty, academia or government

PART I

Safety Management Analysis

Chapter 1 Introduction

‘Safety Management’, a term used in regulatory circles during the past 10 years or so, needs to be supported by a detailed set of developments and design criteria in order to promote safe innovation for composites. The concept places its focus on the feedback obligations of most of the disciplines of the organizational ‘elements of structural safety’. A successful introduction to the certification procedures will require detailed identification of safety issues in the initial phase and extensive rules for risk management, upgrading and updating, and associated validation of safety control. Backman (2005) discusses the elements of structural safety. The latter part of this book identifies the nature of regulatory activities from the standpoint of structural safety. The value of regulatory involvement is highlighted. Moreover, the book provides a detailed investigation of all the elements of structural safety and the contributions they make.

The introduction of Risk Management and Uncertainty Control into the process of achieving and maintaining safety levels necessitates a disciplined approach that recognizes that safety is a function of time. Any successful introduction of ‘safe innovation’ requires an activity that starts during initial development and continues until the end of service life.

The starting point for healthy Safety Assurance and Control implementation must be the realization that structural efficiency and safety do not evolve from opposing objectives. The process has to assure a rational definition of data and knowledge requirements at the start of the design process – the a priori insight, e.g. see Tribus (1969).

It also should embody regulation and compliance requirements for data acquisition and development of further knowledge during service. The monitoring process and the risk management process will produce an ever-increasing insight into existing levels of safety, and the actions required to produce the correct adjustments are essential and must be regulated. A useful basis is described in Congdon (2003).

The needs of explicit safety requirements for development of the processes of design, manufacturing, maintenance, operation and requirements are tightly linked to change and innovation. The challenges derived from new materials, new processes and new structural concepts are inherent to the use of composites for flight vehicles. The call for more efficient structures and safer aircraft rings more loudly now than ever. It is true that it is the responsibility of each individual discipline to implement processes that ensure the meeting of safety objectives. The failure to do so, for the most part results in structural integrity loss, so a coordinated set of requirements must be put in place, and monitored and enforced.

This book extends the role of Safety Management to include many more functions than initially was visualized. In addition to a feedback system that makes it possible to obtain a true description of the service environment over time, it is also desirab...