PREDICTION OF FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH LIFE OF THE CENTRAL WING JOINT PANEL IN AN AIRCRAFT

Fatigue crack was found in the lap joint panel of the central wing lower structure in an aircraft. To assess the safety of the structure, simulated structure specimen was designed and fatigue test was performed under design fatigue load. Test results were reported,and analyzed crack growth cycles predicted by the AFGROW software package compared and agreed well with test results. It also gave suggestion for the repair of crack failure.