Optimisation of Fibre Metal Laminate Splice Designs with Focus on Fatigue Performance: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Fibre Metal Laminates (FMLs) have been widely utilised in aircraft structures for their specific strength, durability and damage tolerance. Most aircraft structures, due to their size, require joining, and FMLs allow for a special type of joint called the splice, a unique but a lesser known joint.<br/><br/>The bulk of research into the splice...

Friction Stir Welding effects of defects in Glare

Splicing technology is used to create fuselage panels due to the maximum width of the aluminium sheets of 60 inches as a result of the production process. A set of designing rules is required for the design of a spliced Glare fuselage resulting in a significant increase in complexity. Friction stir welding of the thin aluminium sheets in Glare...

Predicting fatigue crack initiation and propagation in Glare reinforced frames

The most highly loaded frames of the newly developed Airbus A400M transport aircraft have glass reinforced aluminium laminate (Glare) straps attached to them to increase their resistance to fatigue damage. These straps were designed using static strength requirements for the frame. Basic justification was done in two steps. Firstly, the frame...