28th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 23 - 28 September 2012, Brisbane, Australia
Paper ICAS 2012-7.2.3

FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION OF CRACK PROPAGATION IN MILITARY AIRCRAFT COATINGS

B. Han, M. Veidt, D. Capararo, G. George
Univ. of Queensland & DMTC, Australia

Keywords: aircraft coating, paint degradation, crack growth, a-fem, czm

Environmental degradation is a major problem that decreases durability of military aircraft coatings. Micro-cracks may form and propagate during service and environmental exposure. This paper reports on the development and validation of a special purposed finite element program that can predict micro-crack evolution in aircraft coatings under different loading conditions.

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