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The hole drilling method is a widely known technique for the determination of non-uniform residual stresses in metallic structures by measuring strain relaxations at the material surface caused through the stress redistribution during drilling of the hole. The integral method is a popular procedure for solving the inverse problem of determining the residual stresses from the measured surface strain. It assumes that the residual stress can be approximated by step-wise constant values, and the material behaves elastically so that the superposition principle can be applied. Required calibration data are obtained from finite element simulations, assuming linear elastic material behavior. That limits the method to the measurement of residual stresses well below the yield strength. There is a lack of research regarding effects caused by residual stresses approaching the yield strength and high through-thickness stress gradients as well as the correction of the resulting errors. However, such high residual stresses are often introduced in various materials by processes such as laser shock peening, for example, to obtain life extension of safety relevant components. The aim of this work is to investigate the limitations of the hole drilling method related to the effects of plasticity and to develop an applicable and efficient method for stress correction, capable of covering a wide range of stress levels. For this reason, an axisymmetric model was used for simulating the hole drilling process in ABAQUS involving plasticity. Afterward, the integral method was applied to the relaxation strain data for determining the equibiaxial stress field. An artificial neural network has been used for solving the inverse problem of stress profile correction. Finally, AA2024-T3 specimens were laser peened and the measured stress fields were corrected by means of the trained network. To quantify the stress overestimation in the hole drilling measurement, an error evaluation has been conducted.

The hole drilling method is a well-known technique for the determination of non-uniform residual stress profiles by measuring relaxation distortions caused by the presence of the hole. The integral method, an inverse calculation technique on which the hole drilling method is based, assumes linear elastic material behaviour and is therefore limited to the measurement of residual stresses below 60% of the yield strength. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of elastic-plastic material behaviour on the determined non-uniform residual stress profile when the residual stresses exceed the given 60% limit. To this end, compressive residual stress profiles, as they are typically induced by laser shock peening, are investigated using finite element simulations followed by an analysis with the integral method. The obtained results from the analysis are compared to the applied residual stress profiles. An evaluation of the deviation between these two profiles provides detailed insight into the expected error as a function of hole drilling depth and the ratio of residual stress magnitude to yield strength. As an additional benefit of the presented approach, it also provides an indication of the range of depth at which the non-uniform residual stress profile should be corrected to reduce measurement error.

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To meet the future demands of the aerospace industry with respect to safety, productivity, weight, and cost, new materials and joining concepts have being developed. Recent developments in the metallurgical field now make it possible to use laser-weldable Al-alloys of the 2xxx series such as AA2198 with a high structural efficiency index due to their high strength and low density. AA2198 holds the promise of providing a breakthrough response to the challenges of lightweight design in aircraft applications. Laser beam welding as an efficient joining technology for fuselage structures is already established in the aircraft industry for lower fuselage panels because the welded panels provide a higher buckling strength and lower weight compared with the classical riveted designs. The key factor for the application of laser-welded AA2198 structures is the availability of reliable data for the assessment of their damage tolerance behavior. In the research presented, the mechanical properties with regard to fatigue and fatigue crack propagation of laser beamwelded AA2198 joints and four-stringer panels were investigated. It was found that the fatigue endurance limit of laser beamwelded AA2198T3 is approximately 25 % below the endurance limit of the base material. With regard to the fatigue crack propagation behavior, the laser beam welded four-stringer panels with T-joints show a fatigue life increased by a factor of 1.7 compared with the base material. This work shows that high-quality laser beam welds of AA2198 can be produced on a large scale using the laser beam welding facilities of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht.

Abstract. The goal of the present study is to understand the effects of laser shock peening (LSP)-induced residual stresses on the fatigue crack propagation (FCP) behaviour of the commonly used aircraft aluminium alloy AA2024 in T3 heat treatment condition. LSP treatment was performed using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser on compact tensile C(T)50-specimens with a thickness of 2.0 mm. LSP-treated specimens reveal a significant retardation of the fatigue crack propagation. The fatigue crack retardation effect can be correlated with the compressive residual stresses introduced by LSP throughout the entire specimen thickness. A possible application of the LSP process on a component like panel with three welded stringers representing a part of a fuselage structure was performed as well. The skin-stringer AA2024-AA7050 Tjoints were realised through stationary shoulder friction stir welding (SSFSW), a variant of the conventional friction stir welding process. In this relatively new process, the shoulder does not rotate and therefore does not contribute to the heat generation. Consequently, a reduced and more homogeneous heat input leads to a less affected microstructure and better mechanical properties. The efficiency of the LSP process has been demonstrated resulting in an increase of 200 -400% in fatigue lifetime.

The aviation industry demands thin-walled structures of high dimensional accuracy. Varying radii and individual use-cases, e.g. for repair purpose, require flexible forming techniques. Laser peen forming (LPF) represents such a forming process providing precise energy input by a pulsed laser over a wide energy range. Among adjustable parameters such as laser intensity and focus size, the spot shape, i.e. square and circular, is usually fixed for a specific laser system. As the spot shape is a crucial parameter, this work focuses on the effect of the spot shape on structural deformation after LPF application. Therefore, models for laser peen forming of thin-walled Ti-6Al-4V strips for LPF systems with circular and square focus shapes are set up. Geometric conditions on both focus shapes ensure equal energy input during the laser processing. The numerical simulation relies on the so called eigenstrain method, leading to a cost-efficient calculation of resulting deformation after the dynamic LPF process. Square-based peening pattern exhibit higher deflection. For increasing spot size, the deflection difference between square and circle-based patterns increase slightly.