MCS

Damage Tolerant Materials

Damage tolerance is a property of a structure relating to its ability to sustain defects safely until repair can be effected. The approach to engineering design to account for damage tolerance is based on the assumption that flaws can exist in any structure and such flaws propagate with usage. This approach is commonly used in aerospace engineering to manage the extension of cracks in structure through the application of the principles of fracture mechanics. In aerospace engineering, structure is considered to be damage tolerant if a maintenance program has been implemented that will result in the detection and repair of accidental damage, corrosion and fatigue cracking before such damage reduces the residual strength of the structure below an acceptable limit. As one such approach to crack repair, the placement of a hole at a crack tip to reduce stress concentration and inhibit crack propagation is widely studied and implemented.