Damage tolerance assessment for fatigue-critical locations of wing structure of aged aircraft

This study aims to assess the damage tolerance of the wing structure of aged aircraft with long-term service through the fatigue crack growth analysis and tests. For the fatigue-critical locations (FCL) W2 and W4 in the wing structure, the fatigue stress spectrum was derived based on a previous study. Thereafter, a crack propagation analysis for the FCLs was conducted using the commercial software NASGROTM. The algorithm for the fatigue stress spectrum was verified. Fatigue crack growth tests were then performed for two types of specimens: Type #1 was extracted from the wing structure of aged aircraft, and Type #2 was made of the same material as the wing structure. By comparing the experimental results of these specimens, we assessed the damage tolerance of the wing structure of aged aircraft with service time. © 2017 The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers.