FATIGUE

NAME:- OM KORPE
URN:- 2022-B-17022004C
B.TECH AERONAUTICAL
What is Fatigue ?
• Fatigue is a critical concept in
aeronautical engineering. Fatigue is
the weakening of a material due to
repeated stress. It is a major concern
for aircraft structures, as it can lead to
catastrophic failure.
• Fatigue is defined as "the progressive
deterioration of the strength of a
material or structural component
during service such that failure can
occur at much lower stress levels
than the ultimate stress level".
• Fatigue is a dynamic phenomenon which initiates
small (micro) cracks in the material or component
and causes them to grow into large (macro) cracks;
these, if not detected, can result in catastrophic
failure.
• Fatigue damage can be produced in a variety of
ways;
1.Cyclic fatigue is caused by repeated fluctuating
loads.
2.Corrosion fatigue is fatigue accelerated by surface
corrosion of the material penetrating inwards so that
the material strength deteriorates.
3.Small-scale rubbing movements and abrasion of
adjacent parts cause fretting fatigue.
4.Thermal fatigue is produced by stress fluctuations
induced by thermal expansions and contractions; the
latter does not include the effect on material strength
of heat. Finally, high frequency stress fluctuations, due
to vibrations excited by jet or propeller noise, cause
sonic or acoustic fatigue.
DESIGNING AGAINST FATIGUE:
• Various precautions may be taken to ensure that an aircraft has an adequate fatigue
life.
• The early aluminium–zinc alloys possessed high ultimate and proof stresses but
were susceptible to early failure under fatigue loading; so choice of materials is
therefore important.
• The naturally aged aluminium–copper alloys possess good fatigue resistance but
with lower static strengths. Modern research is concentrating on alloys which
combine high strength with high fatigue resistance.
• Attention to detail design is equally important. Stress concentrations can arise
at sharp corners and abrupt changes in section. In addition to sound structural and
detail design, an estimation of the number, frequency and magnitude of the
fluctuating loads an aircraft encounters is necessary.
• Since an aircraft is subjected to the
greatest number of load fluctuations
during taxi–take-off–climb and
descent–standoff–landing while little
damage is caused during cruise, the
fatigue life of an aircraft does not
depend on the number of flying
hours but on the number of flights.
• However, the operational
requirements of aircraft differ from
class to class. The Airbus is required
to have a life free from fatigue cracks
of 24 000 flights or 30 000 hours,
while its economic repair life is 48
000 flights or 60 000 hours.
• Its landing gear, however, is designed
for a safe life of 32 000 flights, after
which it must be replaced.
 Fatigue strength of
components:
• The effect of stress level on the number of cycles depends on the
endurance curve. As the stress level is decreased the number
of cycles to failure increases, resulting in a fatigue endurance curve
(the S–N curve).
• Such a curve corresponds to the average value of N at each stress
amplitude since there will be a wide range of values of N for the given
stress; even under carefully controlled conditions the ratio of
maximum N to minimum N may be as high as 10 : 1.
• The results from tests on a number of specimens may be
represented as a histogram in which the number of specimens failing
within certain ranges R of N is plotted against N. Then if Nav is the
average value of N at a given stress amplitude the probability of
failure occurring at N cycles is given by
Fatigue Life Prediction:
• Most of the Fatigue life prediction methods used in design structures
have been based on fatigue allowable data generated by excitation of
sine wave.
• The fatigue life prediction methods can be divided into two main
groups, according to the particular approach used. The first group is
made up of models based on the prediction of crack nucleation,
using a combination of damage evolution rule and criteria based on
stress/strain of components.
• The key point of this approach is the lack of dependence from
loading and specimen geometry, being the fatigue life determined
only by a stress/strain criterion.
• The approach of the second group is based instead on continuum
damage mechanics (CDM), in which fatigue life is predicted
computing a damage parameter cycle by cycle.
 Crack Propagation:
• Crack propagation is the widening,
lengthening, or growth of existing cracks
in a material. It's a critical concept in
many engineering fields, as it can lead to
structural failure if left unchecked.
• There are two main stages to crack propagation:
• Crack initiation: This is the formation of a crack in
a material, which can be caused by a variety of
factors, such as stress, corrosion, or manufacturing
defects.
• Crack growth: Once a crack has formed, it can begin to
propagate under the influence of stress. The rate
of crack growth depends on a number of
factors, including the material properties, the
magnitude of the stress, and the temperature.