A Study of Net Section Failure between Two Equal Cracks in an Infinite Plate

Multi site damage is one of the important aspects to be studied to ensure the safety of the aircraft structure. The rivet hole locations are one of the stress concentration regions. The current study includes a panel which represents the fuselage splice joint. The fuselage splice joint is a location where it experiences the uniform stress field at many rivet locations in a row. This study has relevance in the structural integrity evaluation of aging transport aircraft due to multisite damage. Fatigue cracks will emanate from the rivet holes simultaneously as they experience identical stresses due to internal pressure. In service, the cracks in the fuselage will grow due to internal pressurization load cycling. The objective is to investigate the first failure mechanism out of two competing mechanisms of failure; Failure due to fracture or Failure due to plastic collapse at the net section between two advancing crack tips.