In this study, to investigate the effects of omitting low-amplitude cycles from a flight-simulation loading, crack growth tests are conducted on 2124-T851 aluminum alloy specimens. Three test spectra are generated by omitting small load ranges. The cr...
In this study, to investigate the effects of omitting low-amplitude cycles from a flight-simulation loading, crack growth tests are conducted on 2124-T851 aluminum alloy specimens. Three test spectra are generated by omitting small load ranges. The crack growth test results are compared with the data obtained from the flight-simulation loading. The experimental results show that the ranges equal to or smaller than 5% of the maximum load do not contribute to crack growth behavior because these are below the initial stress intensity factor range. Omitting these from the flight-simulation loading, test time can be reduced by 54%.