DAMAGE TOLERANT ANALYSIS OF C-130 HERCULES RAINBOW FITTINGS STRUCTURE

• Main Author: Aria Baskara, Rahmat
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/68462
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The structural failure of aircraft can be caused by several factors, one of which is fatigue failure. Fatigue failure is caused by the cyclical load that occurs during an aircraft’s operating life. The result is crack begin to nucleate, grow, and ultimately result in structural failure. As the high utility military transport aircraft, Hercules C-130, is subjected to repeated loading which initiates crack in the aircraft’s piano joint component or commonly named rainbow fittings, which is the component that connects the center wing box and outer wing of Hercules C-130 aircraft. In this research, rainbow fitting’s crack is analyzed by damage tolerant analysis which is the implementation of fracture mechanics. The research is divided into several stages, data gathering and problem description, static analysis on the master model of rainbow fittings using ABAQUS software, crack analysis on the sub-model of rainbow fittings, stress spectrum generation, and crack growth calculation using MATLAB software The final objectives of damage tolerant analysis are determining the maximum life cycle of the rainbow fittings component and its inspection interval. Based on the research, the rainbow fittings life cycle is 7633 flights, and the inspection time after 3202, 4679, and 6156 flights.