Damage Tolerance of Metallic Aircraft Structures (eBook)

Sergio Tavares got his doctorate at the Universidade do Porto in 2011, in the frame of the MIT-Portugal programme; his thesis and subsequent R&D work concern integral structures. Paulo de Castro got his PhD at Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1980, and has since worked in fracture and fatigue problems, through a variety of R&D projects as EU SMAAC, ADMIRE and DATON, Al-Li work for ESA, among others.

Preface 6
Contents 9
Acronyms and Symbols 11
Part I Damage Tolerance of Aircraft Structures 16
1 Introduction 17
1.1 Evolution of Fatigue Design Approaches 17
1.2 Cracks and Damage 23
References 28
2 Maintenance 31
References 35
3 Fatigue Crack Growth 37
3.1 Life Estimation and Scatter 37
3.2 Improvement of Fatigue Strength 39
References 40
4 Materials 42
4.1 Introductory Remarks 42
4.2 Aluminium-Lithium 44
4.3 Titanium 44
4.4 Fibre Metal Laminates—FMLs 45
4.5 Polymeric Composites 46
References 52
5 Widespread Fatigue Damage and Limit of Validity 56
5.1 Evolution of Regulations 56
5.2 A Glance into Technical Aspects 61
5.2.1 Structural Analyses 61
5.2.2 Integral Structures Crenellations
5.2.3 Morphing 65
References 65
Part II Design of Monolithic Aeronautical Structures 69
6 Alloys and Fatigue Crack Propagation 70
References 75
7 Residual Stress 78
7.1 Introduction and Experimental Measurement 78
7.2 Welding and Numerical Modelling 82
7.2.1 Introduction 82
7.2.2 Case Study: Laser Beam Welded Butt Joints of Thin Al Alloy Plates 87
7.2.3 Case Study: T-Joint 92
References 98
8 Fatigue Crack Propagation of a Structural Detail 102
8.1 Introduction 102
8.2 Fatigue Crack Growth Laws 103
8.2.1 Parameters for the Crack Growth Laws 105
8.2.2 Consideration of Residual Stress Effects 107
8.3 Finite Element Modelling 110
8.3.1 Discussion and Conclusions 112
References 112
Index 114