Fracture Mechanics and Risk Methods

Used to Analyze the F-16 Wing Carry

Through Bulkhead (WCTB)
Upper End Pad Radius

2017 Aircraft Structural Integrity Program Conference

November 27 – November 30 2017

Mark Ryan
IFG Structural Integrity

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

DISTRIBUTION A. APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE: DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. REF# HAFB 75ABW-2017-0452 (AER201711003)
Overview

• WCTB Upper End Pad Fillet Radius

– Background
– Crack Growth Scenario
– Analysis techniques
• Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) Solution Development
– Background
– Application to the WCTB Upper End Pad Fillet Radius
• Risk Analysis
– Background
– Risk Analysis for WCTB Upper End Pad Fillet Radius
• Conclusion

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2

WCTB Upper End Pad Radius

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 3

Background

• Cracking first discovered in 2015

• Fleet cracking:
– Multiple customers have reported
cracking at upper end pad radii
– Cracking has been found at all
Fuselage Stations LHS and RHS,
forward and aft pockets
– Both pre- and post-Block aircraft

• Multiple cracks found on

Block 50 Full Scale Durability
Test (FSDT) at teardown
– FS 325/341/357 LHS and RHS,
forward and aft pockets
– Ten cracks in total found

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 4

Background-Crack Growth Scenario
• Cracking begins in the upper end pad radius
• Crack is assumed to grow into upper flange & upper
intermediate stiffener
• Crack is assumed to grow into lower intermediate stiffener
• Once crack is thru lower intermediate stiffener, the part is
assumed failed

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 5

 Background – Analysis Techniques
• Crack growth models for the upper end pad radius
– Resulted in short durability life for some F-16 models
• Crack arrest study
– Showed stable crack growth through upper flange and upper
intermediate stiffener
• Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) analysis
– Accounted for the stable crack growth in the upper flange and
upper intermediate stiffener
• Crack growth analysis based on the SIF results
– Determined the life that remains after upper end pad radius failure

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 6

Background – Analysis Techniques
• Residual Strength Analysis
– Showed airframe surrounding structure could support load
upon partial failure of the upper bulkhead
• Risk Analysis
– Conducted to determine the risk of aircraft failure accounting
for the residual strength in the surrounding airframe

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 7

SIF Solution Development

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8

 Background - Software
• Fracture Mechanics Modeling
Software
– BEASY
• Boundary Element
• Requires modeling of crack surface
only
• Can “grow” cracks
– Growth path based on local
stress/geometry
• Developed specifically for crack
modeling
• Models typically created from existing
F-16 finite element mesh and solution
files (ABAQUS)

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 9

Background- SIF Solutions Application
• SIF solutions used in the end pad radius evaluation include:
– Generating crack growth models
• Crack is grown/incremented in BEASY to provide SIF values along
the crack growth path
– Evaluating for crack arrest
• Generally a single crack length evaluation with the crack tip at or
just penetrating an adjacent thicker section (i.e. a stiffener)
– Obtaining a critical crack length and/or determining if a current
crack length is less than the fracture toughness
• Can safety be maintained at or below a specific crack length

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 10

Background – SIF Crack Arrest
• Note that crack arrest implies the crack stops growing
– Requires SIF below Kthreshold, typically < 5 ksi*√in
• Unlikely for most situations
– Prefer to view as a “return to stable crack growth”
• Typically will occur at a thickness change such as a large
step or flange/stiffener

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 11

Application – Upper End Pad Radius
• Crack arrest/growth study conducted at multiple
pre/post-Block bulkheads using BEASY
– Assumed blueprint and fitting repair configurations
– Assumed failed web with crack penetration into upper
flange and upper intermediate stiffener
– Crack tips in upper end pad location did NOT arrest
– Results indicate stable crack growth remains in
flange/stiffener

Cross Section from BEASY Model

View Looking FWD
©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 12
Application – Upper End Pad Radius
• Additional Crack Growth Modeling (BEASY)
– BEASY results used in IMAT-CGRO for crack growth analysis
– Crack growth curve shows growth into upper intermediate
stiffener
– Life of bulkhead:
• Additional life remains in wing carry through bulkhead location upon
failure of the radius
• Total life = radius life + upper intermediate stiffener life

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 13

Risk Analysis

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 14

Background – Role of Risk Analysis
• Risk analysis was an important force management
component to prevent immediate inspections of the
upper end pad radius for pre/post Block aircraft
– Risk analysis accounts for customer-specific and aircraft
specific usage rates/severity and variability
– Inspection data is used to determine a mean time to failure
(MTF) and material property variance (MPV)
• If no inspection data is available then the durability life is
used for MTF and a default value is used for MPV based on
prior research
– Used to evaluate the risk of reaching specific crack sizes
– Used to determine the maximum safe re-inspection
intervals

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 15

 Background – Risk Methodology
• The inspection data used median ranking to add weight
to the fleet failures and suspensions
Benard’s Approximation
𝑖 − 0.3
𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑘 % =
𝑁 + 0.4
• A lognormal distribution was used to represent the
inspection data
• The hazard function was used with the lognormal distribution
to determine the single flight hour risk of failure
Hazard Equation
𝑷𝑫𝑭 𝒕
𝑹 𝒕 = (instantaneous failure rate)
𝟏−𝑪𝑫𝑭 𝒕
𝑪𝑫𝑭 𝒕+∆𝒕 −𝑪𝑫𝑭 𝒕
ℝ 𝒕, ∆𝒕 = (risk over period of time)
𝟏−𝑪𝑫𝑭 𝒕

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 16

Background – Risk Analysis Timeline
• Initial risk analysis used the durability life for the Mean
Time to Failure (MTF) for single bulkhead
– No inspection data was available during the initial analysis to
justify adjusting the MTF
– Resulted in aircraft operating at high risk
• Loss of aircraft risk analysis was conducted
– Represents failure of 2 or more bulkheads
– Allowed for short visual inspection intervals without affecting
aircraft schedule
• SIF results increased the MTF used for the risk analysis
– Extended time before initial inspection and re-inspection
– Allowed time for planning surface scan eddy current (SSEC)
– Visual inspection not required for most aircraft

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 17

Application – Input Information
• Inspection Data
– Cracking found at various bulkheads on multiple aircraft
– No cracks were found that extended into the upper flange
or upper intermediate stiffener
– This inspection data was used to determine the lognormal
distribution
• Continuing Damage Analysis Results Incorporated
– Generated SIF results for crack progression into both the
upper flange and upper intermediate stiffener following a
fully severed upper end pad radius
– A crack growth analysis based on the BEASY results
indicate adequate life remains after failure of the upper end
pad radius

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 18

 Application – Input Information
• Analysis Details
– Mean time to failure (MTF) determined using probabilistic approach
– Lognormal distribution was used to fit inspection data
• Resulted in extra life in upper end pad radius
– Additional life from the BEASY analysis was added to the MTF
– MTF represents total time for a crack to initiate in the radius and
extend through the upper flange and lower intermediate stiffener
• Due to similar MTF values for adjacent bulkheads, this MTF represents
loss of aircraft.

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 19

Application - Results
• By incorporating inspection data and continuing damage
analysis, resulted in lower calculated risk levels
– This allows more time for planning initial inspections and
ordering repair kits
– Additionally, the continuing damage analysis allows for more
flexibility in determining future force management plans
• Manage by inspections alone
• Blend and install fittings

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 20

 Background – Risk Analysis Progression

1. Initial Analysis 2. Accounting for Residual Stress

3. Accounting for Life After Radius Failure 2+3. Visual Inspection for Failure
©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 21
Conclusion
• Problem Background
– Upper end pad radius cracking has been found on multiple pre/post
Block aircraft and on the Block 50 FSDT
– No cracks have severed the upper end pad radius and grown into the
upper flange or upper intermediate stiffener
– Initial crack growth models resulted in short durability life for some
customers
• SIF Analysis Results
– BEASY was used to provide SIF values along the crack growth path
– Stable crack growth shown in the upper flange or upper intermediate
stiffener
– IMAT-CGRO was used to determine remaining life in upper flange and
upper intermediate stiffener
• Risk Analysis Results
– Initial risk analysis resulted in aircraft operating at high risk
– SIF results allowed for a larger MTF
• Extended time before initial inspection and re-inspection

©2017 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 22