Abstract
Fracture mechanics provides a methodology for prediction, prevention and control of fracture in materials, components, and structures. Fracture mechanics analysis is the backbone of damage tolerant design. Objectives of fracture mechanics analysis are: (1) stress analysis of cracks to derive crack tip stress field equations and define crack tip stress intensity factors , (2) determination of SIF solutions as function of crack length, orientation and applied loads for a given geometry, (3) prediction of mixed mode fracture under static, dynamic, and sustained loads, (4) prediction of residual strength as a function of crack length. The focus of this paper is on fracture mechanics analysis of longitudinal and circumferential joints of aircraft fuselage structure with cracks. The loading is by internal pressure. Commercial FEA software ANSYS and a special purpose post-processing subprogram called 3MBSIF are used to determine mixed mode membrane and bending SIF solutions. Residual strength prediction is based on the use of strain energy density theory of fracture. Significant results of this study are graphically presented and discussed in this paper.
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