Abstract
Abstract
The fatigue crack propagation of aluminium panels when repaired with unidirectional glass fibre composite laminates was investigated. The stress intensity factor at the crack tip of cracked panels repaired with single-sided and double-sided composite patches was evaluated by developing three-dimensional finite element models (FEMs). A particular surface preparation was used to bond the patches to the aluminium panels, resulting in a cohesive failure mechanism in the specimens. The results show that the stress intensity factor in the aluminium specimens was considerably decreased for double-sided repair, although for single-sided repair specimens the fatigue life was almost doubled compared with the specimens before repair.
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