Numerical and Experimental Research on Fatigue Life of Aircraft Structural Joint

HONG Haiming1, ZHAO Libin2, DONG Pei2 & ZHANG Jianyu1 (1 School of Aeronautic Science and Technology, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China; 2 School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China)
Abstract: Fatigue analysis and optimal structural design of the fatigue-prone parts in the whole aircraft structures are significant for safety life and economy of aircrafts. In this paper, to get the fatigue life of an aircraft structural joint, the numerical simulation based on the large-scale general software ANSYS is processed to find the maximum local stress concentration and the related fatigue theory to estimate the fatigue life is discussed. Then, a series of fatigue experiments of the aircraft joint structure were carried out adopting the same fatigue cycle loads and environments with the computational case. The receivable relative error between the experimental and the numerical analysis results verify the computational efficiency. An improved scheme is presented to promote the fatigue life of the aircraft structural joint and verified to be efficient by the numerical analysis results. Keywords: fatigue life; structure safety; finite element method; structure reliability

1 Introduction
Fatigue analysis of aircraft structures is an important aspect, which must be taken into account of the safety life and economy of aircrafts[1,2]. The optimization design for the fatigue-prone parts of the structure can elongate the fatigue life of the aircraft obviously with only less increasing of the weight. The fatigue behaviors analysis of the aircraft structural joint, which belongs to fatigue-prone parts, is even more important for its criticality for flight safety of the whole aircraft structure. Now, fatigue failures in aircrafts can be, in principle, prevented by design, testing, loads monitoring, inspection and the retirement of known fatigue-prone parts at scheduled intervals. With the development of the computers and the technique of the finite element method (FEM), the numerical analysis using FEM software has already been the primary means to predict the fatigue behaviors of structure and perform the structural optimization design, while the experiment analysis becomes an instrument to verify the computational validity examples have been described in articles
[4,6,7] [3-5]

. Some typical

In this paper, the fatigue life of an aircraft structural joint is discussed by numerical simulation and experimental method. To begin with this paper created the finite element analytical model of the aircraft structural joint based on the large-scale general software ANSYS and processed a non-linear static contact analysis. Then, the mean value of structural fatigue life based on the S-N curve with stress concentrate factor 1 was estimated according to the fatigue theory and the stress results of pre-mentioned analysis. At last, the experiments of the aircraft joint structure were executed adopting the same fatigue cycle loads and environments with the computational case. The receivable relative error between the experiment and the numerical analysis verifies the computational efficiency. An improved scheme is presented and verified by numerical analysis to promote the fatigue life of the aircraft structural joint. The work in this paper lays a foundation for the further study on the local stress concentration and optimal design of fatigueprone structural details.

2 Theoretical Method
2.1 Finite Element Method All engineering structures will exist sharply break section inevitably for its self-structural characters, such as the step, hole, etc. Local stress concentration will occur near these regions due to applied loads. Lots of fatigue accidents and experimental researches show that the fatigue phenomenon always appears at the situation with high local stress concentration. Since the FEM can compute the stress or strain at surface or inside of structure exactly[8]. It is used to do fatigue damage analysis and estimate safety life of arbitrary complicated structures with complex geometries. Generally, for these structures with sharply break section, a fine mesh division near the local stress concentration is necessary to ensure the accuracy and rather a coarse mesh division off the local stress concentration may save vast computational cost. In this paper, the large-scale general software ANSYS, which is based on the FEM, is used to perform the static analysis of the aircraft structural joint. 2.2 Estimation of Fatigue Life The mean value of structure fatigue life at stress concentration situation under the 1 st principal stress (In this paper, the stress along y direction is mainly, thus we select the SY stress) cycle is estimated by the mean value S-N curve with stress concentration 114

factor Kt = 1. That is, the effect of local stress concentration is reflected through computing the detail stress at stress concentration location rather than the mean value S-N curve of related theoretical stress concentration. This method is adopted because it is hard to confirm the exact stress concentration factor of the joint structure for the complexity of load form. Moreover, looking for a related mean value S-N curve is also difficult even that the exact stress concentration factor can be obtained by computation.

3 Numerical Analysis of Aircraft Structural Joint

3.1 ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) Analytical models in the software ANSYS fall into two basic categories: Graphical User Interface (GUI) mode and APDL command flow mode. The former is a menu system that makes beginners and experienced ANSYS users perform virtually all ANSYS operations interactively. It is an easy and intuitive way to communicate with ANSYS. For a simple analysis model, this mode seems quick and effective. However, the shortcoming is obvious for a complex analysis, since accomplishment of a complex analysis needs many amendments; and the result files will tie up enormous HD capacity, which is very inconvenience for preservation and intercommunion, etc. These problems can be easily overcome by the APDL command flow mode. The APDL is a scripting language which can be used to automate common tasks or even build new model in terms of parameters (variables). It also encompasses a wide range of other features such as macros, branching, looping, repeating, array parameters, scalar, vector, matrix operations, and so on. While APDL is the foundation for sophisticated features such as design optimization and adaptive meshing, it also offers many conveniences that you can use in your day-to-day analysis[9]. In this paper, the finite element analytical models adopt the APDL command flow mode. Besides the aforementioned convenience of this mode, this program can provide a convenient platform for the further study on the local stress concentration and optimal design of fatigue-prone structural details. 3.2 Finite Element Analysis of Aircraft Structural Joint The finite element model of the structural joint is shown in Fig.1. The structural material properties are Youngs modulus E1=210 GPa, and Poisson ratio v1=0.3 for bolt structure, Youngs modulus E2=116 GPa, and Poisson ratio v2=0.32 for others. Since the maximum stress occurs at location near the holes. A fine mesh division is adopted near the holes with 3-D hexahedral SOLID95 elements after considering the practical fillet of the hole. Moreover, a coarse mesh division is adopted off the holes. This is a nonlinear static contact analysis process. The applied surface force on the bottom surface is 87.6 MPa. The upper surface is fixed, and the bottom surface is only fixed along x and z direction, but freed along y-direction (longitudinal direction). The load and boundary condition of the analytical model is shown in Fig.1. Considering the fatigue performance of structures, we pay attention to the maximum tense stress of the structural joint. Fig.2 shows the stress contour of the upper connection part, in which the maximum stress concentration occurs. The maximum tense stress occurs on the boundary of the hole, which belong to the thin piece of the upper connect part. The value is 808 MPa (Fig.2).

Fig.1 Finite element model 3.3 Estimation of Fatigue Life

Fig. 2 Stress contour along y-direction of double-piece

When the applied surface force varies from zero to max 87.6 MPa, the aircraft structural joint endures the most serious fatigue load cycle. Thus, we adopt the pulse cycle as the fatigue load to estimate fatigue safety life of joint, i.e. the cycle stress is 808 Mpa. 115

The equation of mean value S-N curve of smooth pieces under condition of theoretical stress concentration factor Kt=1 is[10]:
lg N = 9.3783 1.912 lg(S 536.84)

(1)

Where N is the fatigue life of the material, S is the stress range of the fatigue loading. From Eq.(1), the mean value fatigue life of joint structure can be obtained: Nc=53.2 kc.

4 Experimental Verification of Aircraft Structural Joint

A series of specimens of aircraft structural joint are tested to determine the fatigue life. Each detail of the specimen is just same as the finite element method model. The specimen in test is illustrated in Fig.3. All fatigue tests were conducted at constant stress amplitudes and a frequency of 5 Hz, and the load ratio was 0. The maximum surface force is 87.6 MPa, which is same as the force in calculation. A typical failure specimen is illustrated in Fig.4. A fatigue crack is in the left part of the specimen, and there are no cracks in the other details. Fatigue crack initial lives of each specimen of specimen list in Table 1. The mean value of fatigue life can be estimated using these data[11]: Nt=48.8 kc. Comparing the numerical life Nc with fatigue test life Nt, the relative error is only 9%. The numerical result is receivable for structure fatigue life prediction. Table 1 Fatigue crack initial life of specimen Specimen Fatigue life /kc 1 64.1 2 36.0 3 64.5 4 36.0 5 36.0 6 33.4 7 72.0

5 Numerical Analysis of Improved Scheme

Considering the fatigue life of structural joint is lower than the expectation, the numerical analysis method is adopted first to predict the improved schemes. In this paper, the scheme via adding the thickness of the thin piece is discussed. Fig.3 shows that the maximum tensile stress sy ,max of the airplane structural joint occurs at the thin piece. The stress concentration is located at the fringe of the hole. One scheme via adding the thickness of the thin piece to reduce the stress concentration is presented. The implement is relatively easy because the existed finite element model is established by APDL flow. The only work is to change the parameter of thickness and run the ANSYS program. Then, a series of the maximum tense stress results canin be obtained and listed in Table 2. It Fig.4 Long crack specimen Fig.3 Specimen in test can be seen that the maximum tense stress value decreases with the increasing of the thickness of thin piece. Furthermore, the corresponding fatigue life and the corresponding increment percent of fatigue life based on thickness 6 mm can be obtained. The numerical analyses show that the fatigue life can be increased effectively by the scheme adding the thickness of thin piece. Table 2 Fatigue crack initial life of specimen Thickness /mm sy ,max /MPa Fatigue life /kc Increment percentage /% 6 808 53.2 6.5 782 64.5 21.2 7 765 74.0 39.1 7.2 759 77.9 46.4 7.4 755 80.7 51.7 7.6 749 85.1 60.0 7.8 749 85.1 60.0 8 741 91.6 72.2

6 Conclusions and Discussion

In this paper, an effective FE analytical model of the aircraft structural joint is established and a non-linear static contact analysis is processed based on the large general FEM software ANSYS. Based on the numerical result of the local stress concentration and the fatigue theory of the S-N curve with stress concentration factor 1, the mean value of structural fatigue life of the joint is estimated. Then, a series of experimental results verify the efficiency of the numerical analysis. At last, to improve the 116

fatigue performance of the aircraft structural joint, an improve scheme is presented and the improve models are analysed easily for the FE model is established by APDL flow. The numerical results show that the fatigue life can be increased effectively. Comparing with classical method, this numerical method can get an effective result without test. Furthermore, the optimal design method for fatigue-prone structural details can be developed on the basis of this work.
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