Abstract
The environmental condition in which the Royal Malaysian Airforce is currently operating its aircraft is prone to corrosion. This is due to the high relative humidity and temperature. With most of its aircraft being in the legacy aircraft era, the aircraft’s main construction consists of the aluminium 2024 material. However, this material is prone to corrosion, thus reducing fatigue life and leading to fatigue failure. Using the concept of either Safe Life or Damage Tolerance as its fatigue design philosophy, the RMAF adopts the Aircraft Structure Integrity Program (ASIP) to monitor its structural integrity. With the current problem of not having the structural limitation on corrosion-damaged structure, the RMAF has embarked on its fatigue testing method. Finite Element (FE) studies and flight tests were conducted, and the outcome is summarized. The conclusion is that the longeron tested on the aircraft can withstand the operational load, and its yield strength is below the ultimate yield strength of the material. These research outcomes will also enhance the ASIP for other aircraft platforms in the RMAF fleet for its structure life assessment or service life extension program.
Highlights
The current environmental condition around the world has a significant influence on the operating condition of the aircraft
There was a to carry out a stress analysis on the effect of reduced thickness against the strength of need the to carry out a stress the effect of reduced thickness against the strength of the longeron using
Stresssimulation simulation analysis analysis was was performed structure with its its Stress performedon onthe theupper upperlongeron longeron structure with maximum allowable stress determined based on the thickness reduction
Summary
The current environmental condition around the world has a significant influence on the operating condition of the aircraft. Its most significant influence is on the structural condition of the aircraft. The highest and most common issues affecting the aircraft structure are corrosion, which results from metal and nature interaction. The surrounding condition is related to its humidity and temperature. This plays an important role in absorbing moisture into the exposed aircraft structure [2]. Based on the Meteorological Department’s current data (Met Malaysia), the average humidity for most of the states in Malaysia is approximately 50%, with an average temperature of 27 ◦ C, the yearly wetness (TOW) in peninsular Malaysia is around 0.783 fractional hours. Based on ISO 9223, it is classified that the corrosion level in Malaysia is at class 5, in which the corrosion rate is higher [3]
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