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Aircraft Structural Integrity

Prakash Mangalgiri
Visiting Professor, AE Dept
Formerly at ADA.

(Also at GM-R&D, NASA, IISc, TELCO)

Aircraft Structural Integrity

Module 1
Lecture 1 & 2

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Module Outline

What is structural integrity?

What are the issues? & Concerns?
Fatigue as a major concern

How do we ensure Structural Integrity of

Aircraft?

Historical Evolution
Strategies as a Designer & the Role of Struct Analyses
Safe-Life, Fail-Safe, Damage Tolerant Design
Philosophies

Outline of the Course

What is Structural Integrity?

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What is Structural Integrity?

Structure remains in-tact (may have local damage, but does

not totally break)
and fulfils all the functional requirements
Does so through entire life time of the aircraft
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Functional requirements

Carry and sustain loads (STRENGTH)

Avoid excessive vibrations, deflections or distortions (STIFFNESS)
Avoid instabilities (BUCKLING, FLUTTER)
Provide proper shape (e.g. AEROFOIL)
Provide proper container shape and volume (e.g. FUEL
STORAGE)
Others .
Provide Proper RADAR CROSS SECTION (RCS)
Multi-functional (SMART) Structures can have other functions as well
(e.g. Antennae)

Some Typical Aircraft Structures

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A commercial Transport Aircraft

https://hendrynoya.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/aircraft-load-part-i/

Boeing 747 - Classic

http://www.b747classic.co.uk/gallery

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Airbus A380

http://modernairliners.com/airbus-a380/airbus-a380-specs

LCA - Tejas

https://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6964&start=3240

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Facetted structure of F-117 Stealth Fighter

Heavy penalties in power requirement

High cost of maintenance
Now-a-days, with
the help of
computer aided
models and
calculations, more
streamlined shapes
are possible

1983 - 2008

http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/threads/stealthfighters-and-bombers.48973/

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What can go wrong with

the structure?
Why would it fail?

Why do Structures fail?

Several structures have been built ships, bridges, dams,

nuclear reactors, rockets, aircraft etc etc
On the whole, things work well but, every now and then.a
problem shows up leading to structural failure

Why do structures fail?

Negligence : Mistakes or errors in design or fabrication or
operation.. Someone did not follow the set rules.
Ignorance : New design or new technology or new
material applied and used with the confidence that the
new knowledge was adequate but unexpected failure.
The set rules were not adequate because of some element
of ignorance.

We need to make constant effort to remove ignorance and

work out better set of rules

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Why aircraft structures fail

Violent manoeuvre induced by the pilot (excessive g"

force imposed on a wing or tail, etc.), --- Operating
outside the permitted envelope
Violent manoeuvre
caused by environmental
There is constant
conditions (wind
gust,
effort
to turbulence) --- Un-intentional
operation outside the permitted envelope
Pilot-induced
over-speed,
NEGLIGE
remove
ignorance
NCE
Improper maintenance or maintenance error,
Improper assembly,
build tools which
IGNORA
And, last butwill
nothelp
the remove
least,
NCE
Material degradation
(fatigue,
Corrosion,
damage..)
negligence
Errors in behaviour prediction

Ensuring Structural Integrity

What can go wrong?

Normal Wear & Tear

Abuse Usage beyond Intended conditions
Accidental Damage

How to handle - Need a strategy

Design Strategy
Operational Strategy

Stake holders

OEMs (Design, Manufacture)

Operators (Airlines, Airforces, )
MROs (Maintenance, Repairs)
Regulatory Bodies

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Causes of Structural Degradation, Deterioration

Fatigue

Yielding

(Perm. Deform)

Erosion

Creep

Corrosion

Environment induced
Mech Load induced

Impact
Damage

&
others?

External events

Historical perspective

Industrial revolution in 19th century: several

machineries developed & built. Many of them -Steam engines, locomotives, pumps, etc -- had
sudden failures after a period of successful run..
And that too without any visual evidence of plastic
deformation. And no evidence of overload.
1837: Wilhelm Albert (studying failure of mining
chains) published an article establishing a
correlation between applied loads and durability.
1839: Jean-Victor Poncelet, designer of cast iron
axles for mill wheels, officially used the term
"fatigue" for the first time in a book on Mechanics
1842:

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Versailles rail accident: 8 May 1842

August
Whler
(18191914)

Problem with axles. Metal fatigue was poorly understood at the

time. The immensity of the accident initiated a systematic
research into the problem. in Europe as a whole.
Work by Edwards, Rankine and others described the fatigue
process
18561870, August Whler : Pioneering work on fatigue,
(tests, methodology, machines, fatigue design)

Whler (and others) ~1870

Systematic measurement of loads on axles. Importance

of arriving at proper service loads for design.
Design of fatigue testing m/cs, creating test procedures
Extensive data generation, cyclic stress vs life
Amplitude of cyclic loads as the main factor
Recommended tests & procedure for notched configs.
Noted scatter in fatigue lives, brought in concept of
finite life on account of fatigue
Suggested origin of fatigue as crack initiation &
propagation
Created standard design procedures for design (sizing,
detailing) of rotating components for fatigue.
In fact, S-N Curve is referred to as Wohler Curve by
many

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What is fatigue?

Fatigue is
a process in which damage accumulates due to
repetitive loads which may be well below yield
stress or static strength
a fracture phenomenon occurring after a large
number of load cycles where a single load of the
same magnitude will do no harm
a form of failure that occurs in structures
subjected to dynamic and fluctuating stresses.
Under these circumstances it is possible for
failure to occur at a stress level considerably
lower than the tensile or yield strength for a
static load.

Stress Life (S-N) Curve

11

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Fatigue: Cyclic low loads lead to failure!

By the time Wright
Brothers build their
aircraft, FATIGUE was a
known phenomenon

But, considered to be
relevant for rotating parts,
machineries. .Not much
attention was given to
loads on structures.

Also, STEEL dominated the

scenario as a major engg
material. And steel had a
fatigue limit.

Early aircraft: Strut and wire-braced structures

Wright Flyer

1917
Sopwith
Camel

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wright/images/flye-lotech.gif

All structures: Rectangular

frames, prevented from
shearing or collapsing by
diagonally stretched wire.
Use of Bamboo, Spruce Wood
Initial use of metal (~1930), just
as a replacement of wood

http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/j-r-eyerman-workmenbuilding-flying-boat-that-was-designed-by-millionaire-howard-r-hughes_i-G37-3793-OAAIF00Z.jpg

1935
Hawker
Hurricane

http://www.nomenclaturo.com/wp-content/uploads/Airplane-Wing-Part-DiagramTerminology.png

12

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Semi-monocoque Structures

http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/j-r-eyerman-workmen-building-flying-boathttp://www.nomenclaturo.com/wp-content/uploads/Airplane-Wing-Part-Diagramthat-was-designed-by-millionaire-howard-r-hughes_i-G-37-3793-OAAIF00Z.jpg
Terminology.png

Room for passengers? Experience from Boat buildingbent

wooden frames & double or triple skins, with a clear varnished
finish
First applied to fuselage and then to wing as well.
Sheet metal technology could be effectively utilised
Outer skin not only defines aerodynamic profile, but also carries
load. multifunctional and more efficient

Early years of aircraft structural integrity

Mostly strength based design with factor of

safety
Strength test on components
Early material, wood, had excellent fatigue
resistance
Not much was known about fatigue loads

13

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Sep 23, 1900: Wilbur Wright writing to his father

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mwright.02055/?sp=
4

I am constructing my machine to sustain about five times my weight

and am testing every piece. I think there is no possible chance of its
breaking in the air. If it is broken, it will be by awkward landing. My
machine will be trussed like a bridge and will be much stronger than
that of Lilienthal

Strength Test of an Aircraft (Early years)

http://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/aerospace-engineering/introduction-to-aerospace-engineeringii/readings/9-design-certification/

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LCA
(Tejas) Structural Test
http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/threads/ada-lca-tejas-iv.43717/page-196

Early years of aircraft structural integrity

Mostly strength based design with factor of

safety
Strength test on components
Early material, wood, had excellent fatigue
resistance
Not much was known about fatigue loads

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But, with increasing use of metals,

especially Aluminum alloys, significant
concerns started appearing with
respect to their
Structural Integrity over the life time.

Fatigue: Even low Cyclic loads can cause failure!

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Several landmark events

have shaped our thinking of
Structural Integrity of Aircraft.
We will look at some.

A Landmark Event Ocurred in 1954 which

brought the issues of fatigue to forefront.

The Comet Aircraft Disaster

1954

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De Haviland Comet

The FIRST Passenger Jet-liner

First flight : Jul 1949

First commercial jetliner, introduced 1952
Pressurized cabin & flying smoothly at high altitude
(~ 40000)

Cut 4 hours for the

New York - London trip.

Comet Aircraft Disaster (1954)

Tragically two Comets disintegrated in flight in early 1954.

On 10 January 1954, BOAC Flight 781, 20 minutes after taking

off from Ciampino (Rome), the first production Comet, G-ALYP,
broke up in mid-air and crashed in Mediterranean near Elba
with the loss of all 35 on board.
On 8 April 1954, Comet G-ALYY, South African Airways Flight
201, from London to Johannesburg, was on a leg from Rome
to Cairo when it crashed in the Mediterranean near Naples
with the loss of all 21 passengers and crew on board
Interesting tid-bits
"Comet Air Crash" ("Crash of the Comet"). Seconds From Disaster Seconds from
Disaster is an American documentary television series that first broadcast in 2004
on the National Geographic Channel. Watch on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdCh5W8mP-U
No Highway a novel by Neville Shute almost presaged the failure an year
earlier. Movie on the novel came later : NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY

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Comet Disaster Stress & Fatigue

The ultra-high-strength aluminum alloy

of the 7000 series had been used which
had unfavorable fatigue behavior.

Holes were
punched
rather than
drilled

Stress due to 56.9kPa

cabin pressure and 1.3g
inertia loading

Comet disaster : Failed Part

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuselage_of_de_Havilland_Comet_Airliner_G-ALYP.JPG

The fuselage roof fragment of G-ALYP showing the two ADF

'windows', on display in the Science Museum in London.
Recovered from bottom of Mediterranean Sea

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Comet aftermath

Brought in full-scale fatigue tests with realistic loading

Flight-by-flight loads, the pressurized aircraft fuselage in a

water tank, cyclic pressurization, servohydraulic cyclic
loading of wings, 10-40 gusts of different magnitude per
flight.

CG acceleration or stress spectra of commercial and

military aircraft were measured over hundreds of
thousands of flying hours, in UK, USA
Special online counting devices were invented: "StrainRange Counter" or the "RAE Fatigue-meter",
..Comet had pushed 'the state-of-the-art' beyond its
limits
Other aircraft manufacturers learnt quickly from the
failures and capitalised on them de Haviland lost
business to Boeing with the introduction of B 707

The B47 Story

Report no. 680.1B, The history of the aircraft structural integrity program Aero-structures IAC AFFDL/FBR
Wright-Patterson Afb, Ohio 48433, June 1980,
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA361289

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Gross weight
(lbs) :
125000
185000
206000

B471951Bomber
- 1969,

Thrust
(lbs) :
4000
5800
6000

First major USAF aircraft

designed post WW-II

thin and flexible laminarflow swept-back wing,

six jet engines

slung on pylons

Speed > 600 mph . Could

outfly every other fighter
at the time.

First flight in Dec 1947

Inducted in USAF in 1951
High altitude medium bomber
Backbone of SAC
2,041 B47s built
Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed

The B-47 : Usage

Designed as high-altitude bomber, and largely used

as such to start with (till mid 1957).
Latter half of 1957: Usage pattern changed.
low altitude missions, Training, Long-range missions

Complicating Issues:

Low-altitude bombing system maneuver (LABS) for lowlevel weapon delivery and pop-up bombing
water injection take-off, 17% increase in take-off power
JATO rocket-assisted take-off mechanisms
Training exercises : Repeated take-offs and landings
Increased range, more frequent refueling missions,
unusual load (to stay within permitted position).
The additional loads imposed - difficult to measure.

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The B-47 : Next few years

It was clear (to scientists) that cyclic stresses

would shorten its expected life. Unfortunately,
they could not identify any specific number,
500, 1500, or 2000 flight hours as the danger
point;
Also, they could not pinpoint the aircraft
members which were receiving the most
severe stress
They could only argue that B-47's performing
low altitude missions and those with high
flight times be carefully inspected for external
signs of stress.

The B-47 : Continued

In any case, so long as the B-47 performed its

varied missions satisfactorily, it was hard to
justify the funds expenditure that a serious
investigation of structural loads would require.

But, situation changed dramatically

and painfully in spring of 1958 ..

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13 March 1958

B-47 jet broke apart, raining debris on east Tulsa

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/throwback-tulsa-b--jet-broke-apart-raining-debris-on/article_4ff393ddd055-5446-acd1-cd1c7184ae20.html?mode=image

Spring of 1958 : B47 crashes

13 Mar, Near Homestead AF Base, Florida: A B-47B

disintegrated at 15,000 feet, three minutes after take-off.
Center wing section broke. Total flight hrs: 2077.5

13 Mar, Tulsa, Oklahoma: A TB-47B broke up at 23000 feet

Bottom skin plate of the left wing failed causing the left wing to
break off. Total Flight hrs: 2418 .75.

21 Mar, Near Avon Park, Florida: A B-47E disintegrated in

mid-air due to overstress in pull-up.
Total Flight hrs: ONLY 1129 .5.

10 April, near Langford, New York: A B-47E exploded at

13,100 feet just prior to a re-fueling rendezvous.
Total Flight hrs: 1265.5

15 April, Near McDill Air Force Base, Florida: A B-47E, took

off into a storm and disintegrated shortly afterwards.
Total Flight hrs: 1419.3

Except the pull-up case, the others were clear fatigue failures.
Concern: flaws might show up in almost any B-47

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THE B-47 CRISIS : 1958

Spring of 1958 : Crashes of B-47. Fleet immobilized.

Threat of taking out B-47s from the active inventory.
Need to keep the fleet flying for strong political and
strategic reasons
The B-47 crisis, serious in itself, raised other questions.
Lack of theoretical and actual knowledge concerning
structural failure? How serious?
Implication for other major programmes like B-52, the
supersonic B-58, the KC-135 jet tanker, and the
futuristic B-70 and F-108?
Project was taken up to study the problem and suggest
remedies
All concerned stakeholders got involved : Boeing,
Douglas, Lockheed, Air Material Command, ARDC,
Wright Air Dev Center, NACA (now NASA)

Some Fatigue Critical

Locations in B47

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Operation Milk-Bottle

First response : Structural fixes by splicing, reinforcing

or replacing the affected members, with restrictions on
speed, weight and in-flight maneuvers.
Low-level flying, except for take-off & landing, was banned
No Manoeuvres beyond 1.5 g, on a 30 degree bank.
Maximum indicated air speed was to be 310 knots;
several others.

Inspections: All a/c: BL-35 and BL-45, WS-354, FS-515.

Rework: On a/c without cracks, critical holes at FS-515,
WS-354 & BL-45 reamed out, fit oversized bolts/pins.
Milk-Bottle: The pin at FS-515, approx 25 lbs, shape
like a milk bottle, Hence, name "Project Milk Bottle" .
By 1 Jan 1959, all B-47's had been inspected and
reworked at least once. COST : $62 million
BUT, NO ASSURANCE that there would be no fatigue
problems with the B47.

The immensity of the problem with the B-47 fleet

caused massive infusion of personnel and funding

Uncover the origins of fatigue failures and find

fixes
Develop Technologies to define the loads
environment that the aircraft saw: number of
take-offs, landings, high-g pullups, rolling
pullups, low-attitude maneuvers, and
gust/turbulent weather loading, ..
Devise a test spectrum of the applied loads to
match matched the actual usage as closely as
possible.

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Lessons

Lesson 1: There are Problems associated with

using just a strength-based design criteria.
Lesson 2: Need to identify critical areas for
fatigue damage and check.
Lesson 3: Need to identify realistic loading
pattern for fatigue design / testing
Fatigue Load survey
Fatigue Load Spectrum
Stress Analysis

Lesson 4: Need to validate. Need Strategies

Full-scale fatigue test
Lead aircraft tracking
Individual aircraft tracking.. Etc etc

Safe-Life Structural Design

Comet & other experience:

Difficult to anticipate correctly about fatigue

behaviour
cracks sometimes occur much earlier than
anticipated,
SAFE-LIFE basis will impose uneconomically short
service lives on major components of the
structure.

These problems need to be addressed when

making the choice of Design Philosophy

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Safe-Life Structural Design

Design to achieve a satisfactory (assured)

fatigue life with no significant damage, e.g.,
cracking. (Significant Easily Detectable)
Achieved through analysis and testing
May (and usually does) need large factor of safety

Reduces maintenance cost. (Fit & Forget!)

Good (MUST?) for Inaccessible parts.
Throw and Replace after the guaranteed life is
over (Expense!! Consider Life extension!)

Fail-Safe Design

The central idea of a FAIL SAFE design is to

Use design with multiple load paths,
with established residual strength requirements in the
event of failure of one structural element or an
obvious partial failure.
The thought behind this philosophy is that ..
Failure will eventually occur but when it does the
structure or the system will fail in a safe manner. Thus,
fail-safe designs may incorporate various techniques
to mitigate losses due to component failures.
Providing redundancy is one such technique.. Hence
the multiple Load Paths.

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Achieving Fail-Safety In-general

Redundancies (avoid single point failures) : Provide Back-up

systems, e.g, Twin engines on Passenger Aircraft. Also,
multiple load paths if a structural element fails, the load it
was carrying will be transferred to other members.
Intentional Weak Link : An inexpensive and easy to replace
component may be used to prevent damage to expensive or
difficult to repair component, e.g., Fuses in electrical circuits
OR Shear pins are used on boat propellers
Physics of Failure designed to avoid catastrophic failure : Gas
pipelines using tough material fails in a ductile manner so that
fracture propagates slower than the decompression wave
reducing the pressure and arresting the fracture. Another
example : Leak before Break criterion for pipelines.
Early Detection : When a structure is designed such that
cracks will easily be detected before they reach critical length.

Fail-Safe

The central idea of a FAIL SAFE design is to

Use design with multiple load paths,

with established residual strength
requirements in the event of failure of one
structural element or an obvious partial
failure.

Structure is designed firstly as before to achieve a

satisfactory life with no significant damage.
Further, the structure is also designed to be inspectable
in service and able to sustain significant and easily
detectable damage before safety is compromised.
Requires more testing for fatigue and residual strength.
Not entire structure is amenable for FAILSAFE (e.g.
Landing Gear)

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Safe life and Fail Safe

Safe life is dominated by consideration of

MATERIAL BEHAVIOUR and establishing and using
scatter factors (or similar safety factors) for assured
life.
Fail Safe is dominated by STRUCTURAL DESIGN, the
way the structure is designed, i.e., consideration of
load paths providing redundancy through
multiple load paths
They should not be considered mutually exclusive.
A designer may judiciously use these concepts
depending upon the constraints of cost, the tools
available to him, the expertise at his disposal, etc

1959-1969

Extensive R&D effort to come out with a

satisfactory method and process for ensuring
structural integrity
Fatigue incorporated in all new aircraft designs

But, apparently. that was not enough

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F-111 Crash
22 Dec 1969

An
F-111,
(swing-wing
fighter/bomber) lost a wing
while on a training flight.

The failure originated at a

forging lap incorporated
during the primary metalworking operation, at the
lower wing pivot plate.

The flaw remained undiscovered

during all production inspections
because of its proximity to a
vertical
reinforcement
rib
(Inaccessibility Issue !)
Brought in DAMAGE TOLERANT
DESIGN concept
1972 : MIL-STD-1530 : ASIP
Document

DanAir B707-321 Crash: 14 May 1977, Lusaka

Boeing 707-321C of Dan Air cargo flight London-AthensNairobi-Lusaka crashed just before descent at Lusaka
The right horizontal stabiliser broke away
When modified as freighter, the tail-plane was made larger
and strengthened with part of Al skin replaced Stainless
steel skin and with heavier fittings and ribs.
Even though original design was fail-safe (failure of either
of spar, rear or front, could be handled by single spar), the
new design changed the load-flow compared to the
original design. The stiff fitting prevented any load being
shed in the skin and the spars were subjected to much
more fatigue loading than originally planned..
The rear spar where the fatigue damage accumulated for a
long time could not inspected. The damage remained
hidden and thus the partial failure was not detectable until
the rear spar failed completely, taking with it the entire
stabilizer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Dan-Air_Boeing_707_crash

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Dan Air
Boeing 707-321
Tailplane

Dan Air Boeing 707-320 Crash, 1977

Extensive
fatigue
damage
over a long
time
Not
inspectable
Fail-safe
concept did
not work
Brought-in
damage
tolerance

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Damage Tolerance Criteria

Existence of flaws (even in a new structure) and

Inspectability
Structure to withstand undetected flaws and damage
(considering growth), throughout its design service
life.
Importance of NDT and NDI Development of
Improved tools and techniques
Establish a minimum critical flaw size for those
locations which are difficult to inspect.
Material testing . New kind of material data
generation (with cracks, flaws)
Development of Analytical Tools:
Refined analysis methods
Fracture Mechanics

Fail-safe & Damage Tolerant

Fail-safe : Airplane can survive complete element

failure or obvious partial failure of large panels

-- The failure is obvious (high probability of detection) during

a general area inspection and would be corrected.

Damage-tolerance -- Does not require consideration of

complete element failures or obvious partial failures.
Cracks may develop in the part, not immediately
leading to failure of that part or element.
-- Cracks to be detected before they grow to critical lengths
-- Inspection program tailored to the crack growth
characteristics when subject to expected loading spectrum

Damage-tolerance places much higher emphasis on

inspections to detect cracks before they progress to
unsafe limits, whereas fail-safe allows cracks to grow to
obvious and easily detected dimensions.
From : Preamble, FAR Amendment 25-72

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Aloha Airlines , B 737-222 (28 Apr 1988) 1

From Hilo en route to Honolulu: As the aircraft leveled at

24,000 feet, both pilots heard a loud "clap" or "whooshing"
sound, followed by wind noise behind them. .. Portion of roof,,
cockpit door missingemergency proceduresplane landed.

Date: 28 April 1988

Airline: Aloha Airlines
Flight No.: 243
Aircraft: B737-222
Location: Kahului, HI
Fatalities: 1 // 95 wounded

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/aloha243/photo.shtml

Aloha Airlines , B 737-222 (28 Apr 1988) 2

Multiple fatigue
cracks linking up to
form a large,
catastrophic crack.
Corrosion and
maintenance
problems

The multitude of cycles

accumulated on this aircraft

Highlights from the findings of NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)

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Isolated crack vs MSD

Pitt, Susan, and Rhys Jones. "Multiple-site and widespread fatigue damage in aging aircraft." Engineering Failure Analysis 4.4 (1997): 237-257.

Aloha Airlines Accident, Lessons

Ageing Aircraft Issues

Widespread Fatigue Damage

Corrosion

WFD : Widespread Fatigue Damage is a major issue in

ageing aircraft as it can rapidly bring down the strength.
This brings in focus the issue of REPAIR REPLACE RETIRE

Multi Site Damage (MSD) : Multiple cracks in a single structural

element
Multi-element Damage (MED) : Multiple cracking in several
structural elements

Focus on linking SAFETY and DURABILITY

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Further developments..

1974 : MIL-A-83444 : The Military Specification, Airplane

Damage Tolerance Requirements
presented detailed damage tolerance requirements as a
function of design concept and degree of inspectability.

1975: MIL-STD-1530A was issued to update and revise the

process.
1985: MIL-A-87221 General Specifications for Aircraft
Structures
ASIP requirements of MIL-A-83444 were revised in format and
updated in content

1990: AFGS-87221A : Requirements and verification

guidelines.
1996: MIL-HDBK-1530, General Guidelines for Aircraft
Structural Integrity Program.
1998: JSSG-2006: DoD Joint Service Specification Guide:
Aircraft Structures
Latest Version: MIL STD 1530C, 2005, validated in Aug 2010

In last few decades

Increasing use of Composites
brought forth new issues

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Use of Composites in Aircraft

A 380
25%

LCA
45%

Boeing 787
50%

JSF
35%

Let us look at two peculiar

aspects of composite behaviour

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Fatigue behaviour

In-plane stresses

Out-of-plane stresses

Debond

m = 1.5 2.5 for

metals
m = 5 12 for
composites

= ()

Hardly any
interval for
growth!!

Impact damage

Compression Strength after Impact

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Damage Behaviour: Aluminium vs Composite

Metallic (Al) Material

Composite (CFC) Material

Main failure feature :

Cracks

Numerous Failure Modes

(Hidden.. Internal Delam)

Ductile

Brittle (no warning!)

Degrading Fatigue
Curve

Flat in-plane Fatigue curve and

Very steep Out-of-plane fatigue

Continuous damage
Accumulation (fatigue,
corrosion)

Event driven Damage (Impact)

No hygrothermal
damage

Significant Hygrothermal
degradation

In Summary.

Fatigue is a major concern needs to be

addressed to ensure structural integrity
Need to identify realistic loading (loads, stresses)
Use S-N Curves fatigue data
Incorporate Fail-safety
Account for initial flaws (undetected,
undetectable) Damage Tolerance
MSD & WSD: Multi-site damage .. Widespread
Fatigue Damage.. Especially in ageing aircraft
Use of Composites : Impact damage and
environmental (hygrothermal) degradation issues

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Thus,
in order to ensure structural integrity,
we will look at

Module 2: Fatigue and related issues

Module 3: Fracture Mechanics and Crack
growth (Growth life, Damage Tolerance)
Module 4: Use of Composites and related
issues
Module 5 : Overall view of Aircraft Structural
Integrity

Questions?

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