Title: Boundary element analysis for damage tolerance assessment of aircraft panels

Authors: M.H. Aliabadi, P.H. Wen, N. Salgado

Addresses: Department of Engineering, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End, London, E1 4NS UK. Department of Engineering, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End, London, E1 4NS UK. EMBRARER S.A., Brazil

Abstract: In this paper, the application of the boundary element method to fracture mechanics of aircraft panels is presented. The panels are reinforced by longitudinal stiffeners which are attached to the skin by means of fasteners, bonded to it, or alternatively, machined to form an integral panel. The dual boundary element method used can model the crack growth processes automatically without any user interference. Crack propagation is performed for problems involving single or multiple cracks. The method is used to analyse the effect of both membrance and out of plane bending loads.

Keywords: fracture mechanics; stess intensity factors; fatigue crack growth; stiffened panels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2002.000290

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2002 Vol.15 No.4/5, pp.147-156

Published online: 15 Jul 2003 *

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