Fatigue Life Assessment for Composite Structure

This work presents some of the most recent advances in the technologies which could enable accurate assessment of useful life for composite aircraft fatigue-critical, flight-critical components and structure. Such technology advances include: (1) nondestructive subsurface measurement shift from just detection of defects to three-dimensional measurement of defect location and size; (2) material characterization methods ability to generate 3D material allowables at minimum time and cost; and (3) fatigue structural analysis techniques ability to capture multiple damage modes and their interaction. The authors summarize their recent results in all three subjects.