Fatigue Crack Propagation & Delamination - Tapa blanda

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This thesis presents the investigation into the fatigue crack propagation behaviour and delamination growth behaviour of the Fibre Metal Laminate Glare. This phenomenon is studied for constant-amplitude loading, which is significant for fatigue loading of aircraft pressurized fuselages. As defined in the first chapter, the objective of the investigation is twofold: First, to obtain a clear understanding and a detailed characterisation of the failure mechanisms in Glare under fatigue loading, and second, to obtain an accurate prediction model for fatigue crack propagation in Glare accounting for fibre bridging and delamination.

The major concept in this thesis is that the stress intensity at a crack tip in the metal layers of a Fibre Metal Laminate is the factor determining the extension of that crack under cyclic loading. This means that the stress intensity factor can be described with Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics, including the contribution of the fibre layers and the with the crack growth associated delamination behaviour.

This investigation covers the theoretical analysis of the crack growth phenomenon and a complementary experimental programme to support and validate the new prediction model. This investigation has been restricted to through cracks with the same crack length in all metal layers.