Kul-34.

4300
Aircraft Structural Design (4 cr)
Fatigue Analyses

M Kanerva 2016
Objective and Contents of the Module
The objective of the module is to describe (1) how aircraft fatigue
analyses are performed and (2) how fatigue is controlled during the
aircraft service

Contents
• Overview
• Lessons learned
• Load spectra
• Atmospheric turbulence
• Aircraft response to turbulence
• Aircraft fatigue loads
• Fatigue analyses
• Structural integrity programs

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Material Fatigue
Systematic work for understanding material fatigue started in 1800’s
when August Wöhler conducted series of experiments when trying to
solve fatigue problems of axels in trains

Aircraft industry has been active in the development of fatigue analysis

techniques especially after the fatigue related Comet accidents in
1950’s

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Aircraft Fatigue
Fatigue is a specific concern in aircraft design for the following reasons:

• High level of safety is

required
• Lightweight structure
must be achieved
• Actual loads may differ
from design loads
• Aircraft with fail-safe /
damage tolerant
structures may be
operated far beyond their
original design service life

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Data on Aging Aircraft (1995)

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Safety Requirements
Damage-Tolerant Structures

Specified maintenance free

life to be achieved

Inspection intervals and

inspection methods to reveal
cracks before they danger
safety:
• residual strength as
required (structures are
typically designed to
withstand at least limit
loads)
• no fracture

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Safety Requirements
Notes on Damage-Tolerant Structures

One miss of a
detectable crack is
normally assumed

Inspection intervals
can be adjusted during
the operational use of
an aircraft

Analyses to be verified
by testing as needed
and required

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Safety Requirements
Safe-Life Structures

Specified fatigue life with no visible

cracks to be achieved

Scatter factor of the order n = 3…10

to be applied in analyses and testing

Note!
• Possible defects after
manufacture to be taken into
account
• Analyses to be verified by testing
as needed and required

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Overview – Safety Requirements
Fatigue Evaluation

CS-25 AMC describes acceptable means of compliance:

Damage-tolerance (fail-safe) evaluation Fatigue (safe-life) evaluation

• Design features to be considered • Evaluation process
• Readily detectable defects • Scatter factor
• Identification of principal structural • Replacement times
elements • Type design developments
• Extent of damage and changes
• Inaccessible areas
• Testing of principal structural elements
• Identification of general damage locations
• Damage-tolerance analyses and tests
• Inspection

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Lessons Learned – Summary

Typical reasons for fatigue failures:

• Insufficient fatigue life (design)
• Insufficient damage tolerance (design)
• Insufficient knowledge of the load spectrum (design)
• Inadequate full-scale fatigue testing (design)
• Material/manufacturing defects (production)
• Insufficient corrosion protection (design, production)
• Insufficient/unsuccessful inspection (design, maintenance)

Note! More than one reason is typically needed for a catastrophic

failure

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Fatigue analyses
Overview
Lessons learned
Load spectra
Atmospheric turbulence
Aircraft response to turbulence
Aircraft fatigue loads
Fatigue analyses
Structural integrity programs

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
Page 11
Load Spectra – Introduction 1/2
The term load spectrum is normally used to mean any representation
of cyclic loads applied to a structure (1) in a specific use and (2) in a
specific time

A load spectrum may represent cyclic loading of the whole structure

(e.g. “g-loads” applied to an aircraft)
For fatigue analyses, load spectra
Lwb
must anyhow be determined r
separately for all (possibly) Lht
Mwb
fatigue critical details since
V T D
• structure loads depend on many W
parameters
F
• structures respond differently to
external loading

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Load Spectra – Introduction 2/2
A load spectrum for a structural
detail is derived using an
applicable measure for the load
cycles, e.g.:
• stress or strain
• force per unit width
• bending moment of an
aircraft wing or fuselage
cross-section

A load spectrum can be determined (1) experimentally or (2)

analytically

The former method is naturally limited to existing structures

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Measured Spectrum
Load vs. time data measured
for a structure detail during
operation is the “exact” form of
a load spectrum
Quality of the spectrum highly
depends on the measurement
system, e.g. on the frequency
of the data measurement
Frequency must be high
enough to catch short load
peaks

The measured data as such is not very applicable for fatigue analyses

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Measured and Filtered Spectrum
For analysis/testing purposes, small load cycles with (practically) no
effect on fatigue life are normally filtered off from the measured data,
e.g. in the figure:
• Deadband criterion
defines a band around the
initial state: only one of the
subsequent measurement
points inside the band is
accounted for
• Rise/fall criterion defines
the minimum value of the
half-cycle to be recorded

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Cycle Counting
Measured and filtered load spectrum is often processed by counting
different load cycles included into the spectrum

Different techniques are applied in cycle counting

Note! Information on the sequence of load cycles is lost in the cycle

counting process

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Cycle Counting – Level Crossing Count
The so-called level crossing count is the simplest method for
counting load cycles from the measured load history (or for continuous
recording of the load history)
In the method, exceedances of pre-specified load levels are recorded
The method is normally not acceptable since very different load
histories simplify to the same cycle count with this method

Different loading,
same cycle count

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Cycle Counting – Restricted Level Crossing Count
The restricted level crossing count is an improved version of the
level crossing count
In this method, exceedances of pre-specified load levels are not
recorded before a pre-specified reference level is reached after the
exceedance
Though recording of small fluctuations is avoided, the method is
normally not satisfactory, either

Different loading,
same cycle count

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Cycle Counting – Range Pair Range Count
In the range pair range count method
full load cycles are searched from the 1.
load history:
In the first search, each detected cycle
is recorded and removed from the
history 2.
Another search is then performed. This
is continued until all cycles (and the
remaining half-cycles) have been
recorded 3.
The sequence of loads is lost in the
process, in other aspects, the result is
an exact description of the history
O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016
Fatigue Analyses
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Forms of Load Spectrum
Cycle Counting – Rainflow
In the rainflow method, the load history
is thought of being in vertical direction

A rainflow is initiated from each inner

corner, the flow continuing until it meets
a flow that has initiated from a higher
load peak

Each rainflow defines a load half-cycle

The method gives an identical result

with the range pair range count method
(and is relatively easy to code)

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 1/9
Exceedance curve represents how many load peaks of at least
specified magnitude a structure or structure detail encounters in
a specified time
Load
level

.5

Aircraft gust
spectrum

0 2 3 4 5 6
LOG IEXCEEDANCESI

Log exceedances / time

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 2/9
Exceedance curves can be generated:
• from measured load data;
• analytically; or
• partly from measured statistical data (e.g. man-made loads) and
partly analytically (e.g. nature induced loads)

Exceedance curves are generally used in fatigue analyses since:

• exact load histories do not exist for a new structure to be designed
• exceedance curves are practical for design purposes

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 3/9 Load
level
Exceedance curves are
generally presented in the .5

form of semi-log diagrams Aircraft gust

spectrum
Typically then:
0 2 3 4 5 6

• exceedance curves for Log exceedances / time

nature induced loads are Load
close to linear level

• exceedance curves for

mechanically induced Fighter aircraft
manoeuvre spectrum
loads are non-linear

Log exceedances / time

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 4/9
The example below gives load spectra for the Fokker F28 in terms of
acceleration increment:
• load spectra
measured in
service,
• design load
spectra

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 5/9
Load level exceedances can
further be computed from the
exceedance curve, e.g. the
curve beside indicates that:
• load level 4 will be
exceeded 250 times per
year
• load level 3 will be
exceeded 80 times per
year
Ø load level exceedances in
between 3 and 4 sum up to
170

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 6/9
A stair approximation
of the exceedance
curve is normally
satisfactory for fatigue
analyses allowing to
represent loads with Load level Exceedances Occurrences
the number of load 1 4 4
occurrences of 2 20 16
selected load levels
3 100 80
4 800 700
5 3000 2200
6 20000 17000

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 7/9
For aircraft structures exceedance curves must be created by
considering separately (at least) air and ground load cases

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 8/9
As needed, curves
must be created
separately for
different flight stages
since aircraft mass,
speed etc. vary from
stage so stage
resulting in a varying:
• mean stress; and
• load response

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

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Forms of Load Spectrum
Exceedance Curves 9/9
To be noted is that exceedance
curves
• do not contain information
on the sequence of load
peaks (similarly to the result
given by cycle counting)
• do not indicate how positive
and negative occurrences
should be combined to load
cycles

O Saarela + M Kanerva Aircraft structural design 2016

Fatigue Analyses
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Fatigue analyses
Overview
Lessons learned
Load spectra
Atmospheric turbulence
Aircraft response to turbulence
Aircraft fatigue loads
Fatigue analyses
Structural integrity programs

O Saarela Aircraft structural design 2014

Fatigue Analyses
Page 30