Purpose
The Fatigue and Fracture Laboratory has been an asset to NASA and other government agencies for nearly 50 years and is located in the original portion of Building 1205 constructed in 1966. Mechanical testing performed in the lab support NASA research objectives as well as supporting aerospace research and development activities of government and industry. Experimental data such as failure loads, strain field data (digital image correlation), and Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) results, are obtained to characterize material performance and validate analytical model results. This highly customizable laboratory environment has space around test machines to allow carts of supporting equipment to be utilized (e.g., acoustic emission, eddy current equipment. Further we have the ability to test large specimens on the order of 1 m wide.
Equipment/Test Method
Automated fatigue crack growth and fracture test systems
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Automated fatigue crack growth and fracture test systems Servo-hydraulic test machines o Many machines that range in load capacity from 5 kips to 400 kips
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5-ton overhead crane to lift large specimens and equipment
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Typical/Recent Experiments
- Fatigue and Fracture testing of large reinforced aircraft panels
– Characterized residual strength of cracked/damaged aircraft panels
– Evaluated the effects of reinforcing stiffeners as crack arrest mechanisms
- Compression After Impact Damage testing of honeycomb reinforced composite panels
– Testing after low-velocity impact damage to characterize the effects of “ground handling” damage on composite aerospace structure
- Large-scale test programs where multiple test machines are required
