Review of Fracture Mechanics for Aircraft Structures

Abstract

Well Over 32 percent of the commercial air carrier fleet, worldwide, are beyond their original 20-year design life goal. In the past, 20-year old aircraft were most often replaced by newer aircraft for airline service. However, this is no longer true, and by the turn of the century, 64 percent of the current fleet will be at least 20 years old. This is because economic and market conditions have resulted in the use of commercial jet airplanes beyond their original economic design life objectives. As aircraft exceed their economic design life objectives, the incidence of fatigue increases and corrosion may become more widespread. The purpose of this paper is to discuss our experience with aging aircraft, the basic considerations of fracture mechanics treatment of cracks initiating at rivet holes (to say Multiple-Site Damage) and some problems due to fatigue cracks in aircraft components from the operators viewpoint. © 1994, The Society of Materials Science, Japan. All rights reserved.