Hill Engineering Blog

International conference on residual stress

Hill Engineering is proud to deliver a keynote presentation at the upcoming 2016 International Conference on Residual Stress. The presentation delivered at ICRS2016 will include an overview of the opportunities and challenges related to the effect of residual stresses on the performance of aircraft structure. The abstract text is presented below.

In pursuit of zero-margin airframe designs for tactical aircraft, explicit consideration of residual stresses can save weight and improve service life. Recent gains in airframe structural efficiency have been derived from increased application of unitized structures machined from large forgings. The weight reduction afforded by unitized structures, and the risk inherent in safety critical components, provides motivation for precise engineering. Supported by the US Air Force Research Laboratory, an integrated team has demonstrated the application of residual stress engineering for aluminum forgings. The demonstration has key elements that address the effects of residual stress at specific points in the airframe supply chain, which demonstrate:

  • Validation of process simulations for full-field estimates of bulk residual stresses in aluminum die forgings
  • A method to develop fatigue crack growth properties that are unbiased by residual stress
    Improvements in fatigue analysis that are enabled by including residual stress in design analyses
  • Weight reductions and fatigue performance improvements occur simultaneously when residual stresses are included in airframe design

Taken together, these elements show that the impact of residual stresses on fatigue durability and damage tolerance can now be assessed, and more importantly, accounted for, at the beginning of the airframe design cycle.

Please contact us for more information.