22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-4.4.4
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LAMINAR CORROSION DEFECTS IN AIRCRAFT
G. Clark, K. Sharp
DSTO Aeronautical and Maritime Research Laboratory, Melbourne, Australia
Keywords: fatigue, corrosion, stress-corrosion, structural integrity
Laminar corrosion defects, such as
intergranular penetrations and stress corrosion
cracks, are common in ageing aircraft. These
defects are most commonly found in extruded
and rolled sections made from high strength
aluminium alloys; typical examples include
wing and tailplane spar caps in widespread use
in ageing aircraft. They present a significant
problem in that the assessment of their
significance is difficult, not only because their
orientation (most commonly parallel to the
direction of applied stress) makes analysis
difficult using conventional stress analysis
techniques, but because of the inherent
variability of the laminar cracking process. The
paper summarises progress in AMRL research
which is investigating analytical and
experimental approaches to laminar
defect/fatigue interactions.
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