Fatigue Analysis of Rectangular Plate with a Circular Cut-Out

Abstract

AbstractThe usage of the rectangular plate with a circular cut-out is common in aircraft structures. The stress rises, and stress concentrations occur around the cut-out boundary of structural components due to the change in geometry. It is essential to accurately evaluate the stress concentration factor (SCF) of the structural elements to predict fatigue life and fatigue damage. In this study, fatigue analysis of an aluminium alloy 2024-T3 panel with a circular cut-out of various diameter to width ratios such as 0.1 and 0.3 is carried out to predict the fatigue life and fatigue damage under constant amplitude loading. First, the static stress concentration factor (Kt) of the aluminium panel with a cut-out under axial tensile stresses was determined using finite element and analytical approaches. Ansys (FEA) software is used for carrying out the FEA, and empirical Roark’s analytical model is used for the analytical work. Second, the fatigue stress concentration factor (Kf) is evaluated analytically. The convergence studies of finite element mesh are performed by comparing Kt values using three different meshes of varying the number of elements for 3-dimensional models. The comparison of static stress concentration factors obtained from FEA and the analytical (Roark’s) model shows that both the results are in good agreement and Kf is less than the Kt. The equivalent stress plot shows that the stress concentration factor is more around the cut-out boundary. Third, fatigue analysis of the panel is carried out, and the fatigue life and fatigue damage are estimated.KeywordsRectangular plate with a holeSCFFatigue analysis