An Innovative Approach to Assure Structural Integrity of V/STOL Trainer (Presentation Only)

This presentation focuses on evaluating the fatigue life of the TAV-8B aircraft using a more realistic, data-driven structural assessment approach. Flight-by-flight data recorded from individual TAV-8B aircraft were then combined with the regression models and FEA-based load-to-stress transfer functions to generate aircraft-specific stress spectra and fatigue damage predictions using the CI89 fatigue analysis program. The results showed a 95% probability that the aircraft would exceed the projected SLAP fatigue life of 9,500 flight hours.