MSD crack propagation by DBEM on a repaired aeronautic panel

Abstract

► DBEM to investigate damage tolerance performance of repaired aeronautic panels. ► Two-dimensional analysis for efficiently studying varying repair configurations. ► Easy pre- and post-processing, reduced run-times and satisfactory accuracy. ► Run time compatible with the randomization of the crack propagation phenomena. This paper focuses on the use of the Dual Boundary Element Method (DBEM), as implemented in a commercial code (BEASY), to investigate the damage tolerance performance of a riveted repair flat aeronautic panel, realised and tested in the context of the European project “IARCAS” (VI framework). Such panel is assembled in such a way to simulate the in service repairs, with doublers riveted over corresponding cut-out. The panels, repair patches and rivets are modelled in a two-dimensional analysis with no allowance for out-of-plane bending, with edge-cracks initiated from some skin rivet holes and growing due to fatigue load. In the model, the layers representative of each component are overlapped but distinct, providing no allowance for the existing offset. The two-dimensional approximation for this problem is not detrimental to the accuracy of numerical-experimental correlation, so it turn out to be useful to study varying repair configurations, where reduced run times and a lean pre-processing phase are prerequisites.