Case study: Analysis of the response of an aircraft structure caused by a propeller blade loss

A  paper published in « Case studies in Engineering Failure Analysis »  on ScienceDirect.com.

One of the most severe failures in an aircraft provided with turboprops is an airscrew blade loss, this article is focused on the response of the structure after the break of a blade. The effects of stiffness and strength changes on the mounting system are analyzed. The research covers different parameters which can influence the phenomenon. The FEM model is suitable to simulate blade loss collapse sequence. The model has a perfectly-plastic material law and detects damage zones and failures…..Read more

Failure analysis of a nose landing gear fork

2017-02-02_09h26_14This paper presents a detailed analysis of a nose landing gear failure. The developed work comes following an accident occurred in which the nose of the landing gear’s fork of a light aircraft bent during landing. Nose gear failures are a high concern in the aviation industry. According to Federal Aviation Administration, in average 55% of aircraft failures occur during takeoff and landing while the remaining occurs during flight

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Service fatigue cracking in an aircraft bulkhead exposed to a corrosive environment

 

This paper presents a supporting case study that examines fatigue cracks that were detected in an F/A-18 Hornet bulkhead during post-service testing and teardown. The in-service phase of the cracking had significant evidence of oxidation on their surfaces which indicated an exposure to a mildly corrosive environment. Both the service and laboratory phases of the cracking were the subject of quantitative fractography and estimates of the crack growth rates were made. A comparison of the in-service and the in-test phases of crack growth indicated that no notable effect on the service part of the fatigue crack could be attributed to its exposure to the service environment.

Read the article on http://www.sciencedirect.com