Highly loaded launcher components are often designedaccording to the damage tolerance approach, not takinginto account load interaction effects and often usingonly simple stress intensity factor solutions. Otherproblem characteristics often not taken into accountinclude displacement controlled loading and large scaleplasticity.The main objective of the ESA project on Fracturecontrol/Damage tolerance methods for highly loadedlauncher components was to examine the benefits ofmore advanced damage tolerance approaches for theprediction of crack growth in highly loaded structurallauncher components over the traditional classic damagetolerance approach. The study examined application ofload interaction models, probabilistic models and othernew methodologies for these types of structures. Thefirst part of the project consisted of a number ofsurveys. In the second part verifications of the loadinteraction models, probabilistic models and other newmethodologies were performed supported by sometesting on IN718.In this paper an overall synthesis of all activities isprovided. The tests and analyses show that linear elasticfracture mechanics can be applied to highly loadedlauncher components. A schematised life analyses isprovided that can be applied to the fatigue design ofhighly loaded structures.
展开▼
