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Tips On Fatique
Tips On Fatique
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TIPS ON FATIGUE
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D!S s Sitsu 11« Belease
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D'Ftribut on Unlimited
PUBLISHED BY DIRECTION OF
THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF NAVAL WEAPONS
TIPS ON FATIGUE
by
Clarence R. Smith
Structures Design Specialist
Fatigue Laboratory-
General Dynamics/Convair
1963
Reproduced From
Best Available Copy
20011130 127
TIPS ON FATIGUE
PREFACE
in
TIPS ON FATIGUE
fpr:
I Principles mentioned herein have to the stress levels to which his materials
do with (1) relationships of one structural could be worked. This gave some uniform-
member to another; and (2) paths of load ity in design. The nominal stress levels
carried within the individual members. may have differed with location or purpose.
This is not to imply that the more abstruse For example, the compression allowable
principles of solid state physics would not would depend on stringer and bulkhead
also be helpful, but these are far beyond spacing, while tension allowables might de-
the scope of this work.] Before fatigue was pend on the type of fastener.
considered, airplanes were designed to
withstand a given static load. This may be In fatigue, designing to a uniform nom-
in terms of the number of G's the airplane inal stress would not ensure a uniform fa-
may be expected to encounter during a tigue strength. A uniform design for fatigue
maneuver, or (in some cases the largest would involve the product of the nominal
gust that may be encountered once in a stress times the stress concentration. Not
lifetime). knowing the stress concentrations, this
would be an impossibility. Acknowledg-
In any event, there was some design ment is due to all those whose encourage-
number. Knowing the strength of the ma- ment and assistance have made this book
terial, it was possible to figure out how possible. While theirs is the glory for any
much material was required to carry the merit in the work, blame for any fault
load. A perfect design was one wherein the herein belongs to the author alone.
structure would carry 100 percent of the
design load and fail at 101 percent. Not Assistance came from many sources,
only that, no component would be relatively all remembered and deeply appreciated,
stronger than the next. Just like the "won- though space limits mention to M. S.
derful one-hoss shay that was built in such Rosenfeld, Naval Air Engineering Center,
a logical way that it ran for a hundred R. L. Creel and C. P. Baum, Navy Bureau
years to a day." In his poem, "The Dea- of Weapons for review of the entire book.
con's Masterpiece," Oliver Wendell Holmes
(father of Supreme Court Justice) chroni- The author wishes to especially ac-
cles that no part could fail first because knowledge the cartoons of W. Goldsmith
each was constructed of the very best ma- and T. Adams; the editorial assistance of
terial for the function to be served. Un- R. J. Prichard; the organizational help of
doubtedly, design also had something to do Ralph DeSola in the early stages of the
with it. work; and the technical assistance of G. G.
. in -» *_w
Green.
) While airplanes are/still Idesigned to
carry a certain static load, fatigue poses For the data and photographs that give
the additional problem of estimating how this informal work a concrete set of ex-
long the airplane will last. Ideally, it amples, especially in Chapter 5, the author
should last as long as the designer intended wants to thank the following aircraft man-
it should.) ufacturers, operators and organizations:
-->
In designing for static strength, the Aeronautical Research Laboratories,
designer was given a set of rules governing Melbourne, Australia
IV
TIPS ON FATIGUE
CONTENTS
PREFACE
APPENDICES
B. Stress Concentrations
C. Suggested Reading
Vll
COOLER
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ItlOtt HNAL ***•*■
ESTABLISHED IMI SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. MONDAY MORNING. MARCH 5, 19« DAILY 10 CENTS
Airliner Crashes
With 110 Aboard
j British Charter ,
| Flight Hits Near
Atlantic In Africa
LONDON'. Minvh 5 (Monday) *#*-A chartered Bril-
\<h ,ili-Uii<n- cniTj ing a crew of 30 and ebout 100 paftttO-
, Riu-s «rallied last night in the west African republic «
the Oimeroon, officials minouinvd early today. :-f)
Then* wns no Immediate, woni of casualtie*.!
Thi* lour-vtijeiiut DC7C w»"l__„ TT"* ..
m«>rted flylnij Irom M««m|BKa*'ll ■■"■"■"".
hlque tri cut AJrlra tu LUX-
vmbourg on charter to ■ Lon-
don firm. Trnim-Afrieart Air
Coach. Urt.
NKAB AUtrOHT
An Air Mlntwry upoluwwuiii.
Mid the cruh «one wil bo-
Hoved to tw iwcr ttw Dotiala
airport not lar ffiem the At-
lande ooaat. He »aid thtplan*
OUTtad 101 pMStKItftlM. ., .
A spokonaan lor ODMtotdf
an Aim«*», : owner of *W
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available hair*. wrnsa^.iarjot aldtner «arty-
DETAILS SOt'OUT $--4.J mg- rvtiemtata la
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»wi rwittrt<pfe<itUia«djoalJ treet-
«era. Offidala aald aU MEftrtt, „„.■
|t«Bt«a at a ""*" ■ """" -' ■■-■*■■■'—-
were bolus mad« to :**-..:*• pat «top. . .„,. .. .S1,
Mils bom J.:*VeaaNltNi4ywj
caai wan alow.' ■ ■ -' '"H'mM urt th« bottoi»MK9|M(l out."
Caledonian Airway«, «flyr« BictHyw-»«4wtor mdaorA
offices In Prtatwlck. S— Brooks '«aid. '*mk wuat-'tmW:
BIGGER HEADLINE MOd, «MV SlK^tVett up." '•;'■; ^ «^
'Brootn a*U neiber H.^ nor
, wiu» mm»***.***** • no actrew iatte4 '"«ti Stm-
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. Douda* DCTCo ^to^iÄtt*j| : panlon, Mrs, :"t rm! coraawia,
-:■"--■■■- ol a fleet tar **""* mi lajund. ■ *' .-.it .a', ■-■'<"-,: .
IN THE HIKING ? ;^thiVe:7onot,- JPin,Amorlcan:
WABc!'ti*atIono-ölr*«tor h«r«;s
wft;;^,|llai^^.WaIl' not^da|ti>;
^^äd^^'i|,^'U!««at-j
1.1 A CENTURY OF STUDY AND another report in much smaller type: "Jet
FATIGUE STILL FAILS STRUCTURES Bounces in Air: 10 Hurt." How many such
bounces can a structure sustain before it
The fatigue problem relating to metals and fails and becomes the fact behind an even
structures has been investigated experi- bigger headline?
mentally for more than a century. In 1849,
Jones and Galton investigated cast iron bars Why an even bigger headline? The
in bending. They found that failure occur- first plane was a chartered plane on an
red in less than 100,000 cycles if loaded unscheduled flight. It went down near the
to more than one-third of ultimate bending coast of West Africa, and whatever happens
strength. Similar work on wrought iron in remote places never seems as real or
built-up girders by Fairborn (1860-1861) critical as what happens closer to home.
showed similar results. Wohler's work for The second plane carried more passengers
the Prussian State Railways goes back to the and was on a regularly scheduled flight.
1850's when he made an extensive series of Its route involved the lives and emotions of
tests of various grades of iron and steel hundreds of thousands of people locally.
subjected to repeated direct tensile and When fatigue failure overcomes the second
compressive loads, to repeated bending plane, as it may in the course of time, it
loads, and to repeated torsional loads. Yet is safe to predict that the headline will be
we continue to read about and hear about bigger, the casualty figures more startling,
railroad wrecks, automobile smashups, and the impact on the traveling public even
airliner crashes, and other catastrophes greater.
directly attributable to fatigue in metallic
structures.
1.3 TODAY FATIGUE IS A BIGGER
PROBLEM THAN EVER
The fatigue problem has risen at an solve the problem, whereas a "beef-up"
alarming rate with present day airplanes may create a new problem just outside of
having high speed and performance. To the "beefed-up" area.
make matters worse, the materials used
in present day airplanes are stronger, yet
1.5 THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
have no better (and in some cases, poorer)
fatigue properties than those used formerly,
In aircraft design, every pound of structure
The result has been an accumulation of
added requires additional weight in the form
service failures, some with fatalities
of added power and fuel necessary to carry
involved. Such situations have involved
the added structure. This quickly becomes
the designer in unfamiliar areas. Besides,
a vicious circle because more support
more accurate methods of stress analysis
structure is then needed to sustain the
enable us to design structures with greater
added engine and fuel required to carry
efficiency and precision.
the "beefed-up" redesigned structure.
1-2
TIPS ON FATIGUE
1.7 IF EVERYONE DOES HIS OWN JOB value of facilities for repair and wages
WELL ... of an idle crew, and the daily cost is
appalling.
Accordingly, if everyone took pains to
correct faults in areas where he has A fleet of 300 military airplanes was
influence, a lessening of fatigue failures recently modified to bring them up to de-
would surely result. sired fatigue life. It cost 3200 man hours
per airplane to the tune of more than
Take the case of feathered edges. Just $11,000,000 for the job. Down time
because designers did not take the trouble amounted to about 3 months per airplane.
to call for corner radii, and inspectors did
1.8 ALL FOR WANT OF FATIGUE
not reject parts having sharp corners,
RESISTANCE, THE BATTLE COULD
repairs were necessary on several recent-
BE LOST
ly built airplanes. While the repairs in
themselves may not have been costly, the In the case of a military airplane, the cost
interest at 6 percent on an idle airplane can be failure to complete a mission, which
costing $5,000,000 will amount to over in a critical situation would be impossible
$800.00 per day. Add to that the rental to measure in terms of dollars and cents.
WM&
Figure 1.1. "Beach Marks" Identify Progressive Fatigue Failure (See Section 2.8)
L-3
TIPS ON FATIGUE
1.9 IF YOU CAN GET THEM WHEN fatigue design is superfluous and
THEY'RE LITTLE, FEW costly. Here is where the fatigue
PROBLEMS WILL GET BIG experts should be consulted. In
other cases, the optional fatigue
The importance of considering fatigue design is so simple that little or
in design cannot be overemphasized. no cost is involved. These are
In many cases, it may seem that mainly the items discussed in
the effort necessary for an adequate this book.
1-4
TIPS ON FATIGUE
BASIC PRINCIPLES
2.1 LET'S KEEP IT SIMPLE Have you ever noticed that you can break
a wire quicker by increasing the bend angle?
This chapter will present only those principles
that practicing engineers, inspectors, and
shop personnel can apply. In doing so,
some of the more basic fundamentals of
crystalline structure, such as slip planes,
dislocations, and others will be omitted.
These are beyond the scope of this work.
While the principles discussed are adequate
for the purpose intended, the reader is
directed to Appendix C, "Suggested Further
Reading, " for more detailed technical
information.
5 CYCLES
90-DEGREE REVERSE BENDING
2.2 IT'S NOT ONLY WHAT YOU DO,
IT'S HOW YOU DOIT AND HOW
MANY TIMES
15 CYCLES
0 to 90-DEGREE BENDING
70 CYCLES
45-to 90-DEGREE BENDING
2-2
TIPS ON FATIGUE
83,000 POUNDS
2-3
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-»-)
AAA t-e— I cycle
However, if loads of from 0 to 60,000
pounds were applied, it would last about
25,000 cycles.
~H •*• 1 cycle
Fatigue Failure
Identified by "Beach
Mark" Appearance -
See Section 2.8
C/3
Q
ID
o
0.
The inch-square bar was used in the pre- S = stress in pounds per square
ceding example for two reasons. First, a inch
square inch is a standard unit of measure. P = load in pounds
Second, when fatigue effects are understood A = cross-sectional area in
in terms of a square-inch cross-section, it square inches
730-755 0-64—2
2-5
TIPS ON FATIGUE
COMPRESSION
2-6
TIPS ON FATIGUE
80,0001-.
• 70,000
a 60,000
CO
•f 50,000
I
g 40,000
w 30,000
20,000
R
10,000
1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
CYCLES TO FAILURE
Figure 2.2 A Whole Family of Curves, Showing Lives for Various Ratios of
Stress, R.
S = P/A
2-7
TIPS ON FATIGUE
2-8
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2.7.3 RIVETS AND BOLTS -- Riveted would be to make this fastener incapable of
or bolted joints always constitute problems. carrying so much of the load. Unfortunate-
One reason is that the load introduced by ly, reducing the size of the fastener is not
the rivet or bolt increases the stress at always a solution. In fact it is an invitation
points of concentration. to trouble with the fasteners themselves.
Perhaps a wiser choice would be to remove
The second reason is that it is some of the splice material so that it would
virtually impossible to distribute the not be able to overload the first fastener or
load evenly between rivets or bolts, irre- fasteners. The thinner splice material
spective of workmanship. This is because stretches, thus allowing some of the load to
the second and successive rows of rivets be carried by the second row of fasteners.
cannot carry their share of load without This is illustrated in Figures 2.6 and 2.7,
some stretch in the splicing material where edge views of photoelastic models
between the first two rows. In fact, the are shown. The model in Figure 2.6 is
stretch in the splicing material should be very similar to the clevis joint shown in
greater than that of the material being Figure 2.5. Being cut from one piece of
spliced at this point. Note in Figure 2.5 material, the model in Figure 2.6 clearly
that the fastener nearest the load has the shows that a good load distribution cannot
highest stress. A solution to this problem be attained by providing a better fit.
Figure 2.6. Photoelastic Model of Clevis Joint, Showing Edge View of Load
Distribution Between Fasteners
2-9
TIPS ON FATIGUE
2.7.4 SCARFING — Figure 2.7 shows scarfing. Lap joints will be discussed fur-
an ideal joint wherein the load at the first ther in Chapter 3.
fastener is relieved by scarfing the ma-
terial. Practically, this is hard to do. 2.7.6 NOTCHES - Like the open hole,
Other methods of relieving the load at the the notch constitutes one of the most
first fastener will be discussed under joints harassing problems in fatigue. Figurative-
and joining in Chapter 3. In the meantime, ly speaking, a notch is comprised of any
this would be one of the cases where the kind of a discontinuity, the hole being one
senior engineer or fatigue specialist should of the many types. Thus, it is common to
be consulted. speak of the "notch effect" when the notch
being considered is in reality a bump.
2.7.5 SINGLE VERSUS DOUBLE
SHEAR — The photoelastic models of
Accordingly, the term "notch"
joints so far have been of the clevis or
can be applied to holes, grooves, notches,
double shear type. Unfortunately, aerody-
bumps, etc. Perhaps the most trouble-
namic smoothness requires designing many some of all notches is the fillet radius.
airplane joints in single shear, the worst Machinists seem to enjoy machining neat
example being the simple lap joint. The corners, instead of providing generous
major fault with a lap joint is that the radii at the junctions of two surfaces. The
sheets being joined tend to align with each importance of providing generous radii is
other, causing severe bending stresses at shown in Figure 2.10, where a photoelastic
the first fastener. This is shown by the model shows how stress at a fillet can be
photoelastic model in Figure 2.8. Figure relieved by providing a more generous
2.9 J.s an improved lap achieved through radius.
2-10
TIPS ON FATIGUE
2-11
TIPS ON FATIGUE
powder that sifts out from between the Fatigue cracks propagate at
surfaces. various rates, depending on the material
and loading. The stress concentration at
Since fretting is caused by rub- the end of a crack, being extremely high,
bing, anything that will reduce the amount
causes the material to fatigue locally so
of rubbing will reduce fretting. Equalizing
that the crack continues until enough fresh
the amount of stretch between material be-
material (not yet fatigued) is engaged to
ing spliced and splice material, as illus-
resist loading for another interval. This
trated in the photoelastic models of scarfed
gives rise to the "beach" mark appearance
joints, will help. Adhesive bonding (see
Section 3.9) also helps. Lubricants can be of fatigue failed parts as shown in Figure
helpful in special cases. Consult the spe- 1.1. Sometimes called "tide" marks,
cialist on this. they are useful for locating origins of
fatigue failure. The beach marks left by
high loading are usually spaced farther
2.8 IDENTIFYING FATIGUE FAILURE apart than those caused by low loading.
In either case, the origin is usually at a
Those of us who have had the dubious point of stress concentration or nucleus,
pleasure of looking at the broken end of a and the beach marks propagate in circular
drive shaft or a rear automobile axle, patterns with the nucleus as the center.
can never forget what it looked like. We Usually, the marks near the origin are
may also remember the mechanic saying obliterated by rubbing of fractured sur-
that the shaft was old and crystallized, faces against each other. Thus in Figure
and that was why it failed. 1.1, the origins were probably at lower
This explanation, however, is corners of the hole; however, beach
not necessarily accurate. All metal is marks do not appear until some distance
crystalline. However, because away. After fatigue cracking had pro-
fatigue cracks propagate through the gressed to the last beach mark at the
crystals instead of around them (as in the right, there was insufficient remaining
case of the one-time loading, or static area to carry the load. Static failure
failure in a ductile material) outlines of finally resulted as indicated by the rough
the crystals come into clear view. surface at the right.
2-12
TIPS ON FATIGUE
3.1 TOO MUCH STRESS IN THE one piece. Ideally, the load is evenly
WRONG PLACES distributed throughout the structure to
afford a continuity of stress flow. Accord-
There was no fatigue problem in aircraft ingly, the more nearly the joining resembles
during the era when they were made of a single piece in mis respect, the better
wood. It was only with the advent of all- the joint. The cabinetmaker 's long-scarf
metal airplanes, and in particular of joint very nearly satisfied this condition.
high-strength metal airplanes, that fatigue
became a problem. Why? Too much
3.3 TYPES OF JOINTS
stress in the wrong places!
The most obvious way to join two sheets
of material together is to lap the edges of
The reason we have too much stress one piece over the other and fasten them
in the wrong places is that we have thrown
away the simple approach used in gluing
wood, and instead we resort to the obvious
boiler plate construction. Now, boiler
plate construction is fine when used on
boilers, but we don't have to build air-
planes like that.
*=f*=* LUG
3-2
TIPS ON FATIGUE
3-3
TIPS ON FATIGUE
While using a C-clamp would be same problem as the lap joint. One of its
highly impractical in an airplane, the same advantages is that the doubler can be made
results can be obtained by driving extra thicker than the material being spliced.
rivets through the edges of doublers. This reduces the effects of bending, but it
creates an additional problem: the rivet
In fatigue tests, an ordinary lap nearest the doubl er' s edge now carries
joint with two countersunk rivets as in A most of the load just as in the case of the
clevis joint shown in Figure 2.5.
ZBZB2ZBB02.
>>->>^>.>.>.-*VVVN--V^ To visualize this, stake the end of
A=55,000 Cycles a wide rubber band to a board with three
^s^^s thumb tacks and pull. Note the amount of
1WMM
deformation required at the No. 1 fastener
Wood
3-4
TIPS ON FATIGUE
Very thin at
fastener No. 1
Use extra fasteners
if necessary to
carry static load
Bending stress
is relieved
at first fastener
and also some
of the load
some of the load. Since doubler material Theoretically, the doubler should
must stretch in order to do this, the taper to almost nothing so that the No. 1
thickness at the first fastener should be fastener carries an infinitesimal part of
less than half that of the material being the load — something on the order of the
spliced. cabinetmaker's scarfed wood joint. Gen-
The value of one-half is arbi- erally, the extra machining is impractical,
trary; the point being that, with this sometimes, however, the weight saving
thickness, the No. 1 fastener won't over- does make it worthwhile. Almost as good
load the spliced material. High loads as the thick, tapered splice plate is the
would cause doubler material at the No. 1 thin auxiliary doubler next to the material
fastener to yield in bearing -- which is being spliced. The auxiliary doubler
good, if the remaining fasteners can should be long enough to engage an extra
carry the design load. Thus, for static row of rivets outside the main splice area.
strength it might be a good policy not to Here again, there is a compromise between
rely ön the first row of rivets but, instead the practical and theoretical optimum
to provide extra fasteners for the job. thickness of auxiliary doublers.
3-5
TIPS ON FATIGUE
AUXILIARY DOUBLER
For splices in aluminum alloy, double shear type also has the problem of
an aluminum alloy auxiliary doubler about load distribution between fasteners. (See
one third as thick as the spliced material photoelastic models in Figures 2.5 and
is about right. Where two auxiliary 2.7). Scarfing, or providing auxiliary
doublers are used, the one nearest the doublers as for single shear joints, will
butt should be about one fifth as thick as improve fatigue life.
the material spliced.
3-6
TIPS ON FATIGUE
tremely high bending stress on the corners Also, yom won't have to worry about
of the clevis, or female fitting. Thick the bolt.
lugs with closely fitted bolts or bushings
will have twice the fatigue life of lugs with Shape of the lug's cross section
sloppy fits. A good interference fit is very important. A wide thin lug,
will improve the life many times. See while relieving bolt bending, causes the
Chapter 6 for more on this. stress at the edge of the hole to be many
times the average stress away from the
Because of the bending effect, hole. (See concentration factors in
it is a good idea not to stint on bolt Appendix B).
size. Indications are that it would be
helpful to have the bolt even twice as On the other hand, a narrow,
strong as the lug. This keeps from thick lug requires a long bolt,
overloading the corners of the lug. which bends and
overloads the
lug edges.
Calculated
if Bolt
Didn't
Bend
3 1,000,000
Stronger bolts
permit using
larger A/B
m for better fatigue
100,000 performance
U Test for lug having
U static strength
equal to that of bolt
10,000 i
A/B
3-8
TIPS ON FATIGUE
o 0 ^
730-755 0-64—3
3-9
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3-10
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3 STAGGERED ROW
NEVER USE A SINGLE
ROW OF FASTENERS
3-11
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BEST
Sharp
Edges
POOR
3-12
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3-13
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3-14
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Figure 3.1 "Welded Joints Compared for Static Strength, Fatigue Strength
and Cost.
g 100
w BASE
BUTT WELD .METAL
a> 80
to k FILLET W LLD
CO hH
60
s«
OT
S 40
Bo SPOTWELD^ ^. ^_
H
0
10 100 1000 10,000 100,000
CYCLES TO FAILURE
3-15
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3-16
TIPS ON FATIGUE
DEVELOPING AN INTUITION
FOR FATIGUE
4.1 SEAT OF THE PANTS TECHNIQUE a result of practice and intuition. Simi-
larly, one can develop an intuition for
We have frequently heard the term "flying fatigue resistance.
by the seat of the pants." This has more
merit than some of the instrument special- 4.2 NATURE'S WAY OF DESIGNING
ists would care to admit. Certainly the
number of G's to which the airplane is Boiler plate construction is man-conceived.
exposed would largely be a function of the You never see tree fronds connected directly
comfort or distress experienced by the to the huge trunk of a tree; nor do you see
pilot. Yet the feel for the amount of trim branches attached to the trunk with huge
required for special situations is largely gobs of extra wood. Yet man, in splicing
4-1
TIPS ON FATIGUE
two pieces of material, often uses a the wrong way. Sometimes the small
doubler the same thickness or thicker fingerlike extensions are made for
than the material being spliced. Con- attachment purposes. There is nothing
sequently, most of the load is dumped wrong with this. What's wrong is that
on the first row of fasteners in the the fingeriike extension ends abruptly
splice. in a gob of material where stress can-
not help but concentrate.
4-2
TIPS ON FATIGUE
4-3
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4-4
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5 PAST EXPERIENCE
5-1
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5-2
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5-3
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5.2 NOTCHES
5-4
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730-755 0-64—4
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O
o.
5-7
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5-8
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5-9
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5-10
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*ssga
5-12
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^S
5-L3
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■-*»&
5-15
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to do a man' s job!
5-16
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|jb t?i
m§H
THIN FLANGE
CRACK
5-17
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5-1!
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5. SHOP BLUNDERS
NO EDGE
5.8.1 DISTANCE - The
engineering drawing may not have speci-
fied the exact locations of holes for nut
plates; however, standard shop practices
should be such that this would never
happen. As shown, there was insufficient
room for nut plates to be spaced in such a
manner that holes would fall between nut
plates. Also, note that the edge surface
finish was nothing to brag about.
5-44
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5-45
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6. L BAD SITUATIONS
6-1
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6-2
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zero
which could possibly be shifted to
til LSo • • o • o e o •
zero
or something might be done to make it
behave Like this 21.
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6-3
730-755 0-64—7
TIPS ON FATIGUE
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90,000 Cycles, Stress
Range 1 60,000 psi, R = -1
6-4
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200,000
( Bolts having threads rolled prior to heat
treatment have about the same fatigue
180,000
strength as bolts with machined threads)
6-5
TIPS ON FATIGUE
Figure Z.ll shows how stresses Let's take the case of a Lug.
can be very severe as a result of this. Assume that the machining direction
Simply smoothing out the radius would were normal to the direction of the
be a solution to such a mismatch. Load» As we have aLready seen, this
Other cases may not be so simple. We would constitute a superimposed
may find a part made with a sharp stress concentration. However, if the
notch so that a bearing could sit close machining had been paraLLeL to the
POOR POOR
Direction
of Machining
BETTER BETTER
6-6
TIPS ON FATIGUE
0 STRESS (REF.)
a small amount of material makes the dif- have selected. Practically, this is easy to
ference between satisfactory and unsatis- do. Figure 6.3 illustrates the principle
factory performance. involved in the use of an interference fit.
Where the deflection of the spring is
likened to a stress cycle, it can be seen
6.3.3 CUT OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE that an introduction of a hose segment to
CURVE—Another method of shifting prevent the return to zero would lower the
the stress cycle is by means of an inter- excursion without adding to the maximum
ference fit fastener or a pressed-in bush- deflection.
ing. Here's how it works. Turn back to
Figure 2.2. Let's imagine that our part Figure 6.4 shows the effect of
failed because the actual stress was cy- various amounts of pin interference on the
cling at R = 0 with a maximum stress of fatigue life of small lug specimens. While
50,000 psi. If we could make the stress fatigue life does not seem to be lowered
behave as though loading were at R = +0.5, appreciably by excessive amounts of inter-
we see that the life would then be about ference, look out for possible stress cor-
10,000,000 cycles. In other words, if we rosion. With tapered bolts, now commer-
could block the hole and keep the stress cially available, the amount of interference
from returning to zero, the load could be can be closely controlled. Amounts of in-
reduced to zero, yet the stress would terference should be those recommended
remain at 25,000 psi in the example we by the tapered bolt manufacturer.
6-8
TIPS ON FATIGUE
1,000,000
H
CO
o
/ ft , 3/8-Inch Diameter
o Jj; • Taper Pin
H
§ 100,000
B|[
e|
\-4
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*
M
"l
o
j
CO 17
a
o
in.mn
0.000 0.002 0.004. 0.006 0.008
TAPER PIN INTERFERENCE - INCH
Figure 6.4 Effect of Interference Fit
on Fatigue Life
v
O
H
j to
W
u
u
.75-
0 0.005. 0.01
When more than an 0.002 inch inter- BUSHING DIAMETRICAL
ference is used with an ordinary bush- INTERFERENCE (INCH)
ing, the bushing tends to broach the
holes. Figure 6.5 Press-Fit Bushings
6-9
TIPS ON FATIGUE
6-10
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7.1 A GREMLIN'S MENAGERIE OF stupid question from a shop man who has
COMMON OVERSIGHTS found what the shop thought was an over-
sight, it is recommended that the lofty
In the light of what we have learned about engineer listen with interest, respect,
fatigue, let's review some of the most and appreciation.
common oversights that cause fatigue
failure.
Maybe this time the shop man
When things go wrong in an air- hasn't found an oversight, but it's a
plane, it is common practice to blame it cinch he won't keep looking for one if
on a gremlin — one of those mythical his efforts aren't properly appreciated -
foot-high, ill-humored imps that have if he comes in ten times and only the
been disrupting the works since man tenth is an oversight, it may be the one
first took to the air. In the case of that saves the designer's reputation and
fatigue, however, it would seem that 100 lives.
even a gremlin would need some
help. It's as though the gremlin has a
menagerie of common oversights, each
"animal" with its own structural char-
acteristics that only a gremlin could
love.
7-1
TIPS ON FATIGUE
NICKS TROUBLESOME
SPOTFACE
ALLOW STRETCH
BETWEEN FIRST TWO EXTRA HUMPS
ROWS OF FASTENERS
SHARP EDGES
RAPID CHANGE IN
SECTION
CHEWED UP SURFACES
DANGLING MEMBERS
7-2
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7-3
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7-4
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NICKS (5. 2. 2)
7-5
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DANGLING MEMBERS
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HIDDEN MISTAKES
7-13
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7-14
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7-15
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7-16
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• P5IDWing
-
O Wing
o
o
W
O 40
«
W
-
Horizontal Tall
§$ J^N. ^-P5ID Wing
^ 30 Wir g—^ ►*
I /-Vertical Tail
a R«0
•J ?n
MAXIMUM
NOTE: Load values are given in per cent of static failing loads. Note that the
vertical and horizontal scales are both compressed. Except for the vertical tail,
where R = 0, cycling was from a load representing 1 G to the maximum value
indicated.
TIPS ON FATIGUE
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TIPS ON FATIGUE
Following is a list of references On fatigue for those who wish to pursue the subject
further. While there are many other valuable references,those listed represent a cross
section of the thinking during the last decade.
American Society for Metals. Metals Handbook , Vol 1, 8th Edition, Metals Park,
Novelty, Ohio, 1961
Grover, Gordon, & Jackson. The Fatigue of Metals & Structures, U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1954
Peterson, R. E. Stress Concentration Design Factors, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4
New York, 1953
Weibull, W. Fatigue Testing and Analysis of Results, Pergamon Press, New York,
1961