STRUCTURE INTEGRITY PROGRAM ON WATER BOMBER CL415 CANADAIR

摘要

In 2006, the DGA, the French Armed Forces partner, acquired the title of airworthiness authority for the whole governmental aircraft fleet. This new situation involved the development of new fleet management methods or the update of proven procedures. Historically, the DGA has been focusing on military fleets where the main structural ageing parameter is the vertical load factor. Yet, on the newly managed CL415 Canadair fleet, the structure technical fact tracking highlighted that airframe damages are due to complex efforts and severe usage conditions: gusts, transverse efforts, scooping on heavy swell... With these new fleets, performing an accurate analysis is not always possible often due to a lack of data concerning the loadings applied to the structure. This need is awaited to be filled by operational load monitoring. The aircraft was certified without any full scale fatigue tests and the structural loading is little known. Accordingly, the DGA decided to initiate a structure integrity program. Its mission is to analyse damages by getting involved in the structure technical fact tracking. The in-service measurements are a mean to understand the local stresses on the critical points of the airframe and to collect a fair amount of data for further analyses of the structure's behaviour.