Fatigue Life Improvement of Cracked Aluminum 6061-T6 Plates Repaired by Composite Patches

Bonded patches are widely used in several industry sectors for repairing damaged plates, cracks metallic structures, and reinforcement of structures. Composite have optimal properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio, easiness being applied, flexibility. Due to recent rapid growth the aerospace industry, analyses adhesively bonded applicable cracked structures become great significance. In present study, fatigue behavior aluminum alloy, repaired by a double-sided glass/epoxy composite patch, is studied numerically. More specifically, effect applying patch on life improvement 6061-T6 analyzed. 3D finite element numerical modeling performed analyze performance both unrepaired plates using Abaqus package. To determine plate, first, hysteresis loop determined, afterward, plastic strain amplitude calculated. Finally, Coffin-Manson equation, predicted validated against available experimental data from literature. Results reveal that increase significantly, ranging 55% 100% different applied stresses.