Damage tolerance

Damage tolerance (engl. Damage Tolerance ) is a design philosophy that from the fail-safe has been derived methodology. It is the youngest of three design philosophies. In addition to the two aforementioned, there is also the safe-life philosophy. The core statement of the damage tolerance is the tolerance and acceptance of damage to a system up to a defined damage size and number.

For this, well-founded assessments and damage assessments are necessary in the event of a possible failure. Proof of the effects of the damage is required, should a construction arise from this point of view.

The method has the advantage of lower maintenance costs and a lower weight, since additional components (fail safe) can be omitted. However, it requires in-depth knowledge and a high level of experience in construction and operational stability.

The damage tolerance method has z. B. enforced in many areas of aircraft construction (structure). Reasons are both economic efficiency and a low risk with a thorough design of the construction.

There is a lot of discussion about the damage tolerance philosophy when using fiber-plastic composites in aircraft construction, as in particular low-energy impacts ( low-velocity impact ) can cause externally invisible damage to the aircraft structure.

literature

• Konrad Zilch , Claus Jürgen Diederichs, Rolf Katzenbach (eds.): Handbook for civil engineers. Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-662-07714-6 , p. 375 ff.
• Wolfgang Weißbach: Materials science and material testing. 15th edition, Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 978-3-528-11119-9 , p. 289 ff.

Web links

• Calculation and optimization of fiber composite structures (accessed on February 12, 2016)
• Basics and explanation of the new fatigue checks according to Eurocode 3 (accessed on February 12, 2016)