Stress and damage tolerance analysis of stiffened panel with passenger door cutout in airframe structure using FEA

Abstract

It is very essential to design the airframe structure with minimum possible weight without compromising on the structural safety. Fuselage has many stress concentration areas. Passenger door cutout region is one among such critical regions. Current work includes stress and damage tolerance analysis of a critical region in the fuselage structure. The structure considered for the analysis includes a stiffened panel with a passenger door cutout and surrounding area with the presence of stiffening members. The present work also includes the damage tolerance analysis of the panel in presence of a crack emanating from the high stress location. The pressurization load case is one of the critical load cases considered for the design of the aircraft structure. The tensile loads at the edge of the panel corresponding to pressurization will be considered for the linear static analysis of the panel. A location of maximum tensile stress and its magnitude will be identified from the stress analysis. Stress intensity factor calculation is carried out for different incremental crack lengths for a crack emanating from the high stress location. Modified virtual crack closure integral method is used for stress intensity factor calculation.