Experimental study of pressurized, foam reinforced, cracked cylindrical aluminum shells

Bulging factor of a longitudinal crack in pressurized cylindrical shell with a reinforcing layer

“…The accuracy of the model is validated by comparison with experimental results obtained from [5]. The data consist in strain gage measurements near the crack tip of crack in the fuselage panel as shown in Fig.…”

“…Experimental studies of Chelbi et al [5] have indicated that a part through crack is generated in the foam just under the crack in the skin. This detail has been incorporated in the model as a part through crack of constant depth d F in the foam as shown in Fig.…”

“…For purposes of model validation, data obtained from an experimental setup are used to test and tune the performance of the finite element model; this setup is described in [5].…”

“…The added foam would provide additional reinforcement and attenuate the stress field near the crack tip. Experimental studies were conducted by Bakuckas et al [4] and Lazghab et al [5] showed that this solution could increase fatigue life by 161%. A numerical study conducted by Lazghab et al [6] showed that the bulging factor could be reduced by as much as 45%.…”

“…Thus, providing a direct method to evaluate the bulging factor instead of obtaining it from FEA analysis as in [6]. The expression is developed using data from a parametric finite element model that has been validated from previously obtained experimental results [5,9].…”