Recognition and Correction of Sonic Fatigue Damage in Fighter Aircraft

Abstract

High performance aircraft that fly aggressive low altitude or high-angle of attack maneuvers will experience high acoustic loading, especially in the presence of external stores. These high acoustic loads can lead to rapid sonic fatigue in thin gage metallic structure. As a means of prolonging fatigue life, while at the same time restoring structural load carrying capability in damaged structure, composite bonded repairs which incorporate damping layers have been developed. These damped composite bonded repairs are installed on F-15 flight test aircraft. This paper describes ways to recognize sonic fatigue damage, and the design and flight test results of representative damped patches.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADP014084

Entities

People

  • Salvatore L. Liguore
  • Theodor H. Beier

Organizations

  • Boeing

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Boundary Layer
  • Composite Materials
  • Dynamic Loads
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Dynamic Response
  • External Stores
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Frequency
  • Fuselages
  • Gages
  • Instrumentation
  • Materials
  • Sheet Metal
  • Sonic Fatigue
  • Vibration

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures.