CURRENT AIRWORTHINESS REGULATIONS FOR DAMAGE-TOLERANCE AND FATIGUE EVALUATION OF STRUCTURE
DAWEI JIA *
Engineering R&D Center, AVIC SAC Commercial Aircraft Company Ltd., Shenyang, China.
XU LIU
Engineering R&D Center, AVIC SAC Commercial Aircraft Company Ltd., Shenyang, China.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Airworthiness regulations pertaining to the fatigue and damage tolerance (F&DT) evaluation of civil transport aircraft structure have been extensively modified and broadened in scope over the past sixty years. These changes to the regulations resulted from investigations of major accidents and in-service structural failures due to fatigue damage. New design concepts and philosophies were developed which led to improvements in the F&DT evaluation. This paper presents a review of the current airworthiness regulations for F&DT evaluation of civil transport aircraft structure and provides an overview of an acceptable means of compliance with those regulations for new type certificates. The analyses and scope of testing for certification are addressed.
Keywords: Airworthiness regulations, fatigue, damage tolerance, means of compliance, certification