AIRCRAFT FATIGUE

By Durga Ram Sankhala

Assistant Director (AE), ( )

Aircraft Engineering Division Civil Aviation Department HAL Airport, Bangalore , 7th & 8th December, 2011

at DGCA HQ (NEW DELHI)

Names of the Participants:(1). Shri FC Sharmaji (2). Shri NS Chellappaji (4). Shri Man Mohanji Kaushalji (5). Shri Hillol Biswas, Dy. Director (6). Shri Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Dy. Director (7). , (8). , (9). (Shri. S. P. Singh)

1. INTRODUCTION & HIGHLIGHTS

(6). What is the relation between stress concentration and fatigue? What is the purpose of keeping a notch? (7). How to distinguish between metal and composites fatigue? (8). Failure Investigation & Fatigue Evaluation at DGCA, HQ (9). Fatigue related work carried out at DGCA, HQ, New Delhi.

1. INTRODUCTION & HIGHLIGHTS

(10) How do you evaluate Fatigue Life of an aircraft? Is it qualitative or quantitative? (11). How to improve Fatigue Life of a material? (12). How do you find fatigue status of a material by applying NDT/E Methods? Can Ultrasonic Methods can be useful in evaluating Aircraft Fatigue Life? (13). What are the preventive methods (to delay it further from becoming catastrophic) to overcome fatigue? (14). Failure Investigation and Aircraft Fatigue (Kindly, share the dais), failure investigation team of DGCA Headquarter. (15). How significant is the Aircraft Fatigue?

ALOHA Airlines Flight 243 (in Hawaii between Hilo & Honolulu) midway breakaway was an aircraft accident due to fatigue in the aviation history on April 28th, 1988, a Boeing 737-297 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight but was able to land safely at Kuhului Airport in Maui. The only fatality was Flight Attendant CB Lansing who was blown out of the plane. Another 65 passengers and crew members injured. There were 90 passengers on board. ]

The use of NDT inspection became prominent in the aviation industry after this accident. It was told by Dr. Basant K.Parida, Ex-head, Structural Integrity Division of NAL in 1995 while doing JRF Fellowship Program in Structural Integrity Division. Efficacy of NDT/E techniques using Ultrasonics in FRP Damage Assessment 14th World Conference on NDT held at New Dellhi. $ Shri R. Chinna Durai, (Dy. Director) . . , $ Shri NS Chellappaji (In Charge) $ Shri Manmohan Kaushalji

CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT: Fuselage rivets were excessively corroded and it was stressing the rivets beyond their design capacity, appear to have conspired to render the design a part of the problem; when that first controlled area broke away, according to the Small Rupture Theory, the rapid sequence of events resulted in the failure sequence. This has been referred to as Zipper Effect. TV Movie Miracle Landing can be seen on this accident.

In Material Science, Fatigue is Progressive and Localised and a Structural Damage that occurs when a material is subjected to CYCLIC LOADING. The maximum stress values are less than the ULTIMATE TENSILE STRESS LIMIT and may be below the YIELD STRESS LIMIT of the material. In material science, fatigue is a process by which a material is weakened by cyclic loading. The resulting stress may be below the UTS, or even the yield stress of the material, yet still cause catastrophic failure. Can NDT/E Methods be used for finding out fatigue life of an aircraft component?

What is Aircraft Fatigue? Aircraft Fatigue consists of cumulative fatigue of individual components/parts fatigue i.e. Landing Gear, Wheels & Brakes System, Wing and its attachments parts, Engine attachment components, Control Surfaces, Doors, Rotating components, Turbine Blades, Compressor and Fan Blades, Fan & Tail Rotor Blades and many more innumerable components and parts (including nuts and bolts) etc. Rotational parts undergo rotational fatigue and static parts undergo static one. Some components are rated for Infinite Fatigue Life which will be discussed later.

Components, structures and vehicles are subjected to quite diverse load histories. At one extreme, their histories may be rather simple and repetitive; other extreme, they may be completely random. The history consists primarily of flight with gusts, loading, and taxiing loads. Design Against Fatigue: (1). Infinite Life Concept: To keep stresses below threshold of fatigue. (2). Safe Life Concept: Design for a fixed life (Replacement of a component after a fixed period). (3). Damage Tolerance Design: NDT/E Approach (Periodic NDT inspection).

6.

1. Sufficient Sleep (11 pm peat alertness) 2. Your Diet (Carbohydratesa, Lots of fruits & vegetable). 3. Think small, Less Sweets and Exercise to energise. 4. Watch for Spirit Zappers (Anger, Supressing Feelings, 5. Take a tip from sportsman. (Readers Digest, Jan 1994)

They are also called Wohlers Curve, is obtained as a result of a number of fatigue tests at different stress levels.

1.Cyclic Slip -Initiation Period 2.Crack Nucleation -do3.Micro-crack growth -do4.Macro-crack growth -Crack growth period 5.Final failure -do1, 2 & 3 Stress Concentration Factor 4 Stress Intensity Factor 5 Fracture Toughness In the crack initiation period, fatigue is a material surface phenomenon. Crack growth resistance when the crack penetrates into the material depends on the material as a bulk property,. Crack growth is no longer a surface phenomenon. The initiation period is supposed to be completed when microcrack growth is no longer depending on the material surface conditions.

Different Phases of Material Fatigue and Related Factors

(1). What is the minimum size of a crack developed in this process? (2). Which NDT/E methods can detect these cracks? Eddy Currents (applicable to only electrically conductive materials), Acoustic Emission, Lamb Wave Technique, Thermography, etc.

Many tests have been conducted to determine the fatigue properties of materials and specific parts. Several values would be required to record the fatigue data collected on parts or specimens with various forming processes, machining, surface finishing, heat treatments, surface environments, chemistries, hardness values, microstructures and frequencies of loadings, etc.

Failure Investigation and Fatigue Evaluation:

(i). If a components has failed in shear mode with 45 degree in shear, then it is a case for overload failure.

(ii). Beach Marks are classical indication of bending fatigue failure. They are always oriented to perpendicular to the direction of the maximum stress. It is a macroscopic fatigue feature and phenomena. (iii) Fatigue Striations: They can be seen by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) or EDAX machine at microscopic level and by counting these fringes one is able to estimate fatigue cycles to failure. It is a microscopic level fatigue feature. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDAX). HAL has LEO 440 SEM. The Failure Investigation Laboratory of DGCA is equipped with state-of-the-art technology EDAX Machine presently and it is being used for carrying out cause of failure in aircraft components received from airlines. (iv). Flat and Shining surface is an indication of overload failure. Though it is not a fatigue feature.

An investigation on fatigue failure of turbine blades of aircraft engines by high cycles fatigue test. International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology: Source Thermal Stresses, wear and material damage produce effects of high-cycle fatigue failures in aircraft engines. The loading configuration on turbine blades of aircraft engines consist of Axial Load. The axial load is the centrifugal force combined with the tensile and compressive loads, caused by the natural vibrations of the blade themselves.

Under the supervision and guidance of Shri R. Chinna Durai (Ex-DDG) fatigue testing of Maruti car (from Gurgaon) crankshaft connecting rod samples were carried out in 1996 on Vibrophore Testing Machine (a classical machine of its kind) based on resonance & optical phenomena. These steel samples were tested for millions of cycles. A few research scholars also worked under his guidance during their PhD studies from IIT Delhi, including Dr. Pandey. Also, prior to this period, the related work was carried out for development of Railways Traction cables of Suburban Railways of Delhi (Safdarjung Railway track) made of Aluminum.

Drop Test also was conducted for the Landing Gear of Swati in Machine Shop of DGCA in 1996. Not related to fatigue. Noise Reduction project also headed by Ex-DDG Shri R. Chinna Durai in early 90s. AR & DB sponsored project for AN-32 of Indian Air Force at DGCAs Hanger building. It is not related to fatigue. Shri FC Sharma ji Ex-Director detected a cause of failure of engine blade from his failure investigation ( which incurred from the Boeing company an amount of Rs. 1 Crore to DGCA.

Laughter is brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart. -Mort Walker Children are not happy with nothing to ignore , and thats what parents were created for. -Ogden Nash Laughter is the essence of life. -NAL (Material Science Laboratory)

How many types of Fatigue? (a). Low Cycle Fatigue: Low cycle fatigue applications

include those machine/members that have stresses which exceed the fatigue limit for a few cycles, but not enough to cause failure during the machines useful life. The required low cycle service life is determined as the basis of experience. Low cycle applications include those machine members having cycles below 1000. Macroscopic plastic deformation occurs in every cycle. (b). High Cycle Fatigue: Historically, most focus attention has focused on situations that require more than 10:4 where stress deformation is primarily elastic. In other words cycles where When the fatigue occurs above 1000 (usually 10000 or more), it is usually called HCF (High Cycle Fatigue). The material is subjected to lower loads, usually less than 2/3 of the yield stress. HCF mechanism on a macro scale occurs as an elastic deformation phenomenon.

The deformation is in elastic range. Range of fatigue life of High Cycle is 10:3 ~ 10:6 cycles.
(c ). Infinite Life Fatigue: If a component has covered number of cycles as more than 10 millions in its service life, it is called having attained an infinite life. (i). ARIS Casing Ring: INF fatigue life. (ii). Flexible Coupling Shaft: INF (iii). Longitudinal Bell Crank: INF (iv). Torque Plate: (vi). AFT & Forward Lift Rods: Main Rotor Blades (MRB): 15,000 hrs ARIS Assembly: SLL 5,000 hrs; Airframe: 12500; IDS Assembly: 5000 hrs;

(d). Torsional Fatigue: Although on a micro-scale, the initial fatigue failure of a ductile material is commonly in shear, on a micro-scale, or as seen by the naked eye. The fatigue cracks appear at right angles to the plane of maximum tensile stress. Therefore, fatigue cracks in shafts or bars that has been subjected for torsional loading will be oriented at 45 degrees.

(e). Thermal Fatigue: A kind of fatigue caused by repeated heating and cooling. In other words, repeated heating and cooling of a component causes this phenomena to occur. It is prominent in Turbines where some heating and cooling takes place due to different power settings. It causes non-uniform changes in dimension. Thermal Fatigue that results from rapid increase and decrease in operating temperatures. It is also named as Thermal Creep.

Difference between Thermal Fatigue & Heat Treatment (quenching): If a component has completed 1 Crore cycles (ancient wisdom says about chanting a mantra for one Crore times, it gets proven for a person who is chanting), similarly, it implies that it will not fail in its lifetime. It is considered of having an infinite life i.e. 10 million cycles.

(a). How to distinguish between Metal and Composites Fatigue? Metal Fatigue: It is well-defined and volumes of information (data) is available all over the world e.g. Metals Handbook, ASM Handbooks, Journals, NAL/HAL/IISc /IIT/NIT/ NIM (Hyderabad) and other Research Institutions including in some Technical Libraries, etc. In Composites, fatigue is NOT WELL-DEFINED. Damage Assessment is complex and typical in nature unlike in metals.

Fatigue is not WELL-DEFINED. Damage Assessment is Complex and Typical in Nature unlike in metals. Damage Assessment in FRP using NDT/E Methods: (1). X-Rays: Medical X-Rays. (2). Ultrasonic C-scan: Water Jet & Immersion Water Jet : Composites Division, NAL

At Department of Aerospace in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Layer by layer scanning through the thickness using this technique. Colour Mapping of Damage Area in this technique.

(i). Improved Fatigue Life prediction by Acoustic Emission: Acoustic Emission amplitudes were continuously monitored for aircraft components under loading. They were shown to be extremely distributed. The prediction of the number of cycles left until failure is made possible, and improved within a fair practical interval and at a good confidence level, very early in the fatigue damage accumulation process. It has been shown that only a few percent of the elastic energy associated with the crack propagation phenomenon is converted into detectable acoustic energy.
(i)

1. Shot Peening 2. Honing 3. Carburising 4. Polishing (Surface Finish) 5. Electroplating 6. Heat Treatment 7. Alloying 8. Environmental Effects

The Heart is Happiest when it beats for others.

- Strictness is an ego problem. Base your life on Love & Giving. Sri Sri Ravishankarji Judge a man by the type of Questions He Asks. Judge a Man by over the talks he laughs. s

Among the various techniques, Ultrasonic Lamb Wave technique offers a convenient method of evaluating composite materials. Since, the Lamb wave velocity depends on the elastic properties of a structure, an effective tool exists to monitor damage in composites by measuring the velocity of these waves. Lamb wave measurements can propagate over long distances and are sensitive to the desired inplane elastic properties of the material.

Fatigue Spectrum of SARAS Landing Gear (Report No. SARAS/STR/50, 19.02.2007). (1).Tail Down Landing (2). Level Landing with nose and main wheels contacting the ground simultaneously (for nose gear) Lateral Drift Landing Side Load Condition

Fatigue Spectrum of SARAS Landing Gear (Report No. SARAS/STR/50, 19.02.2007). (1).Tail Down Landing (2). Level Landing with nose and main wheels contacting the ground simultaneously (for nose gear) Lateral Drift Landing Side Load Condition

1. Carburizing 2. Honing 3. Polishing 4. Burnishing 5. Polishing 6. Rolling 7. Shot Peening

Hardening Grinding Plating Welding EDM & ECM

Finite Analysis using MSC/NASTRAN

Constant amplitude cyclic loading Sa = Smax Smin 2 Smax + Smin = alternating load

Sm =

= mean load

There are five types of constant amplitude fatigue testing machines: (a) Cantilever Rotating Bending (b) Rotating Pure Bending (c )Bending Cantilever Eccentric Crank (d) Axial Loading (e) Combined Torsion & Bending The principal of operation includes generating an input signal of load, strain, or displacement using a function generator and applying this input through a hydraulic actuator; measuring the specimen response via a load cell, a clip gauge or a LVDT, and comparing this with the specific input. The difference drives the system. They are closed loop servohydraulic test system type of machines. These test systems can perform constant or variable amplitude load, strain, displacement or Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) controlled tests on small specimens or can be utilised with hydraulic jacks for components, subassemblies or the whole structure.

(i) Rotating Bending (ii) Axial Uniform (iii) Axial Hourglass (iv) Axial or bending with circumferential groove (v) Cantilever flat sheet/plate (vi) Tubular combined axial/torsion with or without internal/external pressure (vii) Axial cracked sheet/plate (viii) Part through crack (ix) Compact tension (x) Three point bend

Notches cannot be avoided in many structures and components Severity of a notch is often characterised by the Stress Intensity Factor. Notches concentrate stresses and strains.

The fatigue loads on a structure in service are generally referred to as the load structure. Fatigue load spectrum should be reviewed if fatigue failures occur in service. Basic Wave Shapes of a cyclic load: (1). Sinusoidal Wave (2). Block Wave (3). Positive Saw Tooth (4). Negative Saw Tooth (5). Hold Time Wave Shape (6). Spike Loads.

Data are down loaded from Flight Data Recorder which has flight history of an aircraft which helps in designing a LOAD SPECTRUM

Facility is available at National Aerospace Laboratories, Kodihalli, particularly for fighter planes e.g. MIGs. Dr. Keshava Narayana Raju, who laid down the aircraft fatigue and fracture facility at NAL and was the Chief Architect of the Full Scale Fatigue Testing facility and he was one of the best Aeronautical Scientist & Engineers and made remarkable contribution in this field.

MIG-27 were fatigue tested for life extension in the year 2007

Screaming & Crying Doing SEVA (including watering plants) A person who laughs and cries will not get cancer (Contents of a Book in Central Mall) One gets brilliant ideas in the midnight when you are awake. (Contents of a Book). Pran Mudra helps to combat fatigue and tiredness. (Bhrastrika & Ujjai Pranayaam) Doing Shavasan, bare feet walking on Green Grass, Head Bath, Face Washing, Foot Bath, etc

MIG 29 FSFT facility had 18 actuators and 4 dummy load points. 5 actuators on each wing and 8 on the fuselage. Four dummy load points are situated at the lower fuselage section. Dummy points will gets tripped when there is a deflection crossing +/- 20 % in LVDTs deflection readings. The deflection is measured by LVDTs. 17 blocks were used for 3000 flying hours. Each block consists of few flight hours. Load spectrums were obtained by drawing Flight Envelope with data obtained from Flight Data Recorders.

An aircraft is fatigue tested for 4 times more load than the actual flight loads coming over the aircraft. So its fatigue life can be predicted.

The use of a Load Spectrum in airframe fatigue life predictions is considered for probabilistic approach that takes into account the main aspects of deterministic methods flight hours together with data scatter. airframe fatigue damage.

High Fatigue Life for all critical components. Helicopter is designed to withstand the loads arising due to crash conditions of 35 g forward, 12 g rearward, 25 g downward, 8 g upward and 12 g sideward. Control System is designed to have high stiffness and strength requirements. Fuel Tank has crash resistance features. All the system requires least maintenance during the operation of the helicopter. Endurance Testing was carried out on GTV.

ARIS (of ALH DHRUV) Anti-resonance Impedenace System

(A) Fatigue Evaluation FAR 29.571 Fatigue Evaluation of Structure Identification of principal structural elements, the failure of which could result in catastrophic failure of the rotorcraft. For example, Tail rotor, airframe, swash plate, tail boom, etc are also the principal airplane components. Development of a crack in a helicopter fuselage could result in a catastrophic failure (ripping apart). So is the case with tail rotor and swash plate failure. Maneuvering load factors need not exceed the maximum values expected in operation.

(i) Flaw Tolerant Safe Life Evaluation (ii) Fail Safe (residual strength after flaw growth). (iii) Safe Life Evaluation

Para 23.571: Metallic pressurised structure. Para 23.572: Metallic Wing Empennage & associated structure Para 23.573 Damage Tolerance & Fatigue Evaluation of Structure Para 23.574 Metallic Damage Tolerance and Fatigue Evaluation of Commuter Category Airplane. Para 23.575: Inspection and other procedures.

Advisory Circular No. AC 25.571-1C, Dated 4/29/98. Subject: Damage Tolerance & Fatigue Evaluation of Structures. TYPICAL LOADING SPECTRUM EXPECTED IN SERVICE: The loading spectrum should be based on measured statically data of the type derived from government and industry load history studied and, where the insufficient data are available, on a conservative estimate of the anticipated use of the airplane. The development includes the definition of the expected flight plan which involves climb, cruise, descent, flight times, operational speeds and altitudes and the approximate time to be spent in each regime.

Master Service Recommendations, RWR & DC, HAL BANGALORE. 2. Metal Fatigue in Engineering, 2nd Edition, by Ralph I Stephans, Ali Fatemi, Robert R Stephans and Henry O Fuchs, John Wiley & Sons Inc 3. Fatigue Structures and Materials by Jaap Schijve, Springer, 2009, 2nd Edition. 4. Full Scale Fatigue Test facility of NAL (STTQ Division) 5. Failure Investigation Cell of Foundry & Forge Division (Central Laboratory) HAL, Bangalore 6. FAR 29, 25 and 23.
1.

DGCA Delhi & Bangalore (including both the Consultants) HAL NAL Air India Family & others.

(1). The smile is a sacred gift of life. (2). Self-Contentment (Aatm-Santushti) is the FirstSign-of-Prosperity. -H H Sri Sri Ravishankarji.