NTL Record

Title Estimate of probability of crack detection from service difficulty report data
Record ID 34317
Personal Name
Creator
Brewer, John
Source 49p. in various pagings
Corporate Creator John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Publisher United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration
Publication Date 19940900
Language English
Abstract The initiation and growth of cracks in a fuselage lap joint were simulated. Stochastic distribution of crack initiation and rivet interference were included. The simulation also contained a simplified crack growth. Nominal crack growth behavior of large cracks was derived from the simulation results. These calculations implied that large cracks spend most of their lives as multiple small cracks and that the final growth and coalescence occur rapidly. The nominal crack growth histories were applied to 'C-check' crack detection data from the Service Difficulty Report (SDR) database to estimate the sizes of cracks when they were missed during previous inspections. These nondetection events were also estimated by assuming that each detected crack had always been a single crack. The results of each method were appropriately filtered and used to estimate probability of crack detection (POD) using the maximum likelihood technique. The POD estimates obtained from the single crack model are probably conservative, but the underlying assumption of slow crack growth (and therefore more inspection opportunities) might result in unconservative damage tolerance analyses.
Rosap ID dot:6033
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/6033
TRT Terms Airframes; Cracking; Detectors; Fuselages; Stochastic processes
General Subjects Aircraft structures; Crack formation; Detection systems
Classification NTL - AVIATION - AVIATION;
NTL - AVIATION - Aviation Safety/Airworthiness;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Aviation Safety/Airworthiness
Geographical
Coverage
United States
OCLC 31532351
TRIS Online
Accession No
712892
Contract Number FA4H2/A4044
Report Number DOT-VNTSC-FAA-94-4; DOT-FAA-CT-94-90
Availability Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/34000/34300/34317/DOT-VNTSC-FAA-94-04.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository