Overview
Structural Repair Manual (SRM) skin panel dent damage tolerance (DT) allowables are substantiated by crack growth testing. An impact energy based relationship to dent size and finally to DT allowables shall be established. As part of the test campaign dents are introduced in aluminium sheet coupons using a drop tower. Artificial cracks are introduced into the sheet at critical dent locations to observe the crack growth behavior under cyclic loads. Digital image processing to measure crack growth and finally to determine the allowables.
