Fatigue crack growth in aluminum alloy from cold expanded hole with preexisting crack

Abstract

The fatigue life of aircraft structure elements with operational damage in the vicinity of the hole was investigated. The plates 60 mm wide and 6 mm thick made of D16chT aluminum alloy with a central hole were taken for the study. Fatigue damage was examined with an corner quarter-elliptical fatigue crack with a length of 1,25 mm, which was initiated from an edge notch of 0,5 x 0,5 mm. The fatigue crack growth rate on the surface of the plate after mandrel hole with cold expansion degree i = 2,7% increases up to15 times and residual lifetime in three times compared to the virgin plate.