Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-04T11:25:24.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Method of Estimating the Permissible Fatigue Life of the Wing Structure of A Transport Aircraft

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

K. D. Raithby*
Affiliation:
Structures Department, Royal Aircraft Establishment

Extract

For types of structure where safety standards cannot be preserved by reliance on inspection, a permissible “safe life” has to be determined by relating the loads experienced by the aircraft in service to the fatigue performance of the structure, with due allowance for scatter in fatigue strength and in the frequency with which loads are encountered. This paper gives a working method for estimating the “safe life”—at which the risk of fatigue failure is negligible—of the wing structure of a transport aircraft, where the flight loads giving rise to fatigue are overwhelmingly due to atmospheric turbulence but where allowance has also to be made for “ground-to-air” loads.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1961

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Taylor, J. (1956). Estimation of Fatigue Life. Unpublished R.A.E. Paper. November 1956.Google Scholar
2. R.Ae.S. Fatigue Data Sheet L.01.01, 1958.Google Scholar
3.Raithby, K. D. (1952). Variation in Strength of Nominally Identical Light Alloy Tailplanes. Aircraft Engineering, Vol. XXIV, No. 282, August 1952.Google Scholar
4.Heywood, R. B. (1956). Correlated Fatigue Data for Aircraft Structural Joints. A.R.C. Current Paper 227, 1956.Google Scholar
5.Raithby, K. D. and Longson, J. (1956). Some Fatigue Characteristics of a Two Spar Light Alloy Structure (Meteor 4 Tailplane). A.R.C. Current Paper 258, 1956.Google Scholar
6.Bullen, N. I. A Note on Test Factors. A.R.C. R. & M. 3166.Google Scholar
7.Chtlver, A. H. (1954). The Estimation of Fatigue Damage in Aircraft Wing Structures. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Vol. 58, No. 522, June 1954.Google Scholar
8.Walker, P. B. (1953). Design Criterion for Fatigue of Wings. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 57, No. 505, January 1953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Taylor, J. (1956). Fatigue Loading Actions in Aircraft Structures. Inst, of Mech Engineers Conference, London, September 1956.Google Scholar
10.Burns, A. (1956). Fatigue Loadings in Flight: Loads in the Wing of a Varsity. A.R.C. Current Paper 285, 1956.Google Scholar