21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-R.5.3

ANALYSIS OF THE INTERACTION EFFECT FOR BONDED REPAIRS

Sanderson S., Rose L. F. R., Callinan R. J.
Aeronautical & Maritime Research Laboratory, Australia

Keywords: interaction effect, bonded repairs

With the increasing use of bonded repairs to restore the structural integrity of ageing aircraft the question arises as to the interaction effects when repairs are located close together. Using the Finite Element (F.E.) method a study has been carried out for the interaction between two idealised circular patches to repair cracks in thin skins. While circular patches are considered the same trends are expected for non-circular patches. The interaction involves the increase of the sheet stress just outside the patch. It has been found that the tandem orientation, with respect to the applied load, is the worst configuration. In this case, for most practical repairs, the interaction may result in increases of the sheet stress by 40% for very close separation distances. It has also been found that biaxial loading can also significantly influence the interaction effect.

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