The Effect of Low-amplitude Cycles in Flight-simulation Loading

비행하중에서 피로균열진전에 미치는 미소하중의 영향

In this study, to investigate the effects of omitting low-amplitude cycles from a flight-simulation loading, crack growth tests are conducted on 2124-T851 aluminum alloy specimens. Three test spectra are generated by omitting small load ranges as counted by the rain-flow count method. The crack growth test results are compared with the data obtained from the flight-simulation loading. The experimental results show that omission of the load ranges below 5% of the maximum load does not significantly affect crack growth behavior, because these are below the initial stress intensity factor range. However, in the case of omitting the load ranges below 15% of the maximum load, crack growth rates decrease, and therefore crack growth curve deviates from the crack growth data under the flight-simulation loading. To optimize the load range that can be omitted, crack growth curves are simulated by the stochastic crack growth model. The prediction shows that the omission level can be extended to 8% of the maximum load and test time can be reduced by 59%.