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Clad 2024‐T3 and 7075‐T6 sheet specimens were loaded at three different load amplitudes and three different mean loads. It turned out that the mean stress had an important influence on the crack propagation rate. The crack growth rate in the 7075 specimens was three to four times as large as in the 2024 specimens.

THE influence of the sheet thickness on fatigue‐crack propagation was studied on specimens of 2024‐T3 alclad sheet of five thicknesses, viz. 0.6, 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm. It turned out that cracks grow faster in thicker sheets. The different states of stress at the crack tip probably cause the thickness effect.

This paper deals with crack propagation under programme‐fatigue loading; the programme being derived from a gust spectrum. The validity of the Palmgren‐Miner rule for crack propagation has been studied and its usefulness for design purposes is discussed.

NON‐DESTRUCTIVE testing of glued metal joints for voids in the glue line may be done by vibration tests. The response to an excitation will be different for adhesive joints with and without voids. The difference in response will depend on the frequency of the excitation. This may be chosen in the sonic as well as the ultrasonic range. Each will have its own merits.

Special probes were developed to test rotor blades for fatigue cracks. These probes utilize ultrasonic surface waves which are highly sensitive to fatigue cracks. The dimensions of the probes were kept small to make possible the testing of blades without the necessity of dismounting. The probes are built up from conventional commercial probes by attaching some small auxiliary equipment to them, which is very easy to manufacture. Searching blades with these probes is more reliable and less time‐consuming than with previously available methods.

Fatigue crack growth rate data for 2024-T3 aluminum are found using three parameters d*, σ* and μ* for short and long cracks for Regions I-III in conventional fatigue. Asymptotic solution of a line crack with a micro-tip is found to yield a singular stress behavior of order 0.75 in contrast to the 0.50 order known for the macrocrack. The difference is due to the micro-macro interaction effects. The three parameters account for the combined effects of load, material and geometry via the tip region. Data for short and long cracks lie on a straight with a slope of about 3.9-4.8 for R values of 0.286-0.565. The results were based on an initial crack a1 mm where a is the half length for a central crack panel. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The belief that specimen fatigue data could assist the design of structural components was upended when FAA discovered that the NASGRO FCGD are not valid for short cracks that are tight and may even be closed. The regular ΔK vs da/dN model was limited to long cracks. The issue become critical for short cracks connecting the long ones of a few mm to cm or even m according to da/dN for the same crack history. The danger of short/long fatigue crack growth (SLFCG) prompted FAA to introduce an added test known as Limit of Validity (LOV), a way of setting empirical limits for structural components. The dual scale SLFCG data from ΔK micro/macro provide support for the LOV tests.

Data for short and long cracks lie on a straight with a slope of about 3.9-4.8 for R values of 0.286-0.565. The single dual scale relation on ΔK micro/macro can switch from microscopic to macroscopic or vice and versa. The difference is fundamental. Order other than 0.75 can be obtained for simulating different microstructure effects as well as different materials and test conditions.

Scale shifting from short to long fatigue cracks for 2024-T3 aluminum is new. The crack driving force is found to depend on the crack tightness. The sigmoidal curve based on the regular ΔK plot disappeared. The data from ΔK micro/macro for short cracks may supplement the FAA LOV tests for setting more reliable fatigue safe limits.

The purpose of this paper is to present the application of the boundary element method (BEM) in linear elastic fracture mechanics for analysis of fatigue crack propagation problems in mixed-mode (I+II) using a robust academic software named BemCracker2D and its graphical interface BemLab2D.

The methodology consists in calculating elastic stress by conventional BEM and to carry out an incremental analysis of the crack extension employing the dual BEM (DBEM). For each increment of the analysis, the stress intensity factors (SIFs) are computed by the J-Integral technique, the crack growth direction is evaluated by the maximum circumferential stress criterion and the crack growth rate is computed by a modified Paris equation, which takes into account an equivalent SIF to obtain the fracture Modes I and II. The numerical results are compared with the experimental and/or BEM values extracted from the open literature, aiming to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the adopted methodology, as well as to validate the robustness of the programs.

The paper addresses the numerical simulation of fatigue crack growth. The main contribution of the paper is the introduction of a software for simulating two-dimensional fatigue crack growth problems in mixed-mode (I+II) via the DBEM. The software BemCracker2D coupled to the BemLab2D graphical user interface (GUI), for pre/post-processing, are very complete, efficient and versatile and its does make relevant contributions in the field of fracture mechanics.

The main contribution of the manuscript is the development of a GUI for pre/post-processing of 2D fracture mechanics problems, as well as the object oriented programming implementation. Finally, the main merit is of educational nature.

The purpose of this study is to review the existing fatigue and vibration-based structural health monitoring techniques and highlight the advantages of combining both approaches.

Fatigue monitoring requires a fatigue model of the material, the stresses at specific points of the structure, a cycle counting technique and a fatigue damage criterion. Firstly, this paper reviews existing structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques, addresses their principal classifications and presents the main characteristics of each technique, with a particular emphasis on modal-based methodologies. Automated modal analysis, damage detection and localisation techniques are also reviewed. Fatigue monitoring is an SHM technique which evaluate the structural fatigue damage in real time. Stress estimation techniques and damage accumulation models based on the S-N field and the Miner rule are also reviewed in this paper.

A vast amount of research has been carried out in the field of SHM. The literature about fatigue calculation, fatigue testing, fatigue modelling and remaining fatigue life is also extensive. However, the number of publications related to monitor the fatigue process is scarce. A methodology to perform real-time structural fatigue monitoring, in both time and frequency domains, is presented.

Fatigue monitoring can be combined (applied simultaneously) with other vibration-based SHM techniques, which might significantly increase the reliability of the monitoring techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review about sizing of joints, from the static and fatigue points of view. A discussion about advantages and disadvantages of each joining technology, among the ones mentioned above, will be presented.

Although many other aspects will be discussed, emphasis will be given to the joint fatigue behavior, and fatigue test results will be presented and discussed.

This paper is a subject review, where no new findings are presented. However, the comparison of fatigue test results for mechanically fastened joints and friction stir welding joints will show the advantages of the latter.

With the information presented, the authors expect to provide some guidelines that will help to improve future joint designs.

The review information contained in this paper may be used as reference for aircraft joint design.

Riveting deformation is inevitable because of local relatively large material flows and typical compliant parts assembly, which affect the final product dimensional quality and fatigue durability. However, traditional approaches are concentrated on elastic assembly variation simulation and do not consider the impact of local plastic deformation. This paper aims to present a successive calculation model to study the riveting deformation where local deformation is taken into consideration.

Based on the material constitutive model and friction coefficient obtained by experiments, an accurate three-dimensional finite element model was built primarily using ABAQUS and was verified by experiments. A successive calculation model of predicting riveting deformation was implemented by the Python and Matlab and was solved by the ABAQUS. Finally, three configuration experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the model.

The model predicting results, obtained from two simple coupons and a wing panel, showed that it was a good compliant with the experimental results, and the riveting sequences had a significant effect on the distribution and magnitude of deformation.

The proposed model of predicting the deformation from riveting process was available in the early design stages, and some efficient suggestions for controlling deformation could be obtained.

A new predicting model of thin-walled sheet metal parts riveting deformation was presented to help the engineers to predict and control the assembly deformation more exactly.