A Damage Tolerance Method for Preliminary Aircraft Design

Abstract

This report describes a state-of-the-art Damage Tolerance (DT) method according to the structural analysis manual HSB. Therefore, the behavior of preexisting damage in a load-sustaining structure is evaluated for a specified load spectrum. All analysis steps to be conducted are and also the implementation into a design loop for the preliminary aircraft design is pointed out. The described DT procedures consider damage in form of a through-thickness crack. Thus, the application is limited to metallic structures. In the current version, damage is considered to occur only to skin sections. The basic variant of the method calculates the DT behavior of isotropic plates. However, according to the structural analysis manual, stiffening elements are considered by empirical correction factors. Furthermore, all python functions of the DT analysis module are explained in this report.