Application of the Hybrid Finite Element Method to Aircraft Repairs

A hybrid finite element approach is presented for the analysis of cracked panels with riveted doublers in airframe structures (Al). The method uses the super element developed by Tong to model the cracked panel with rivet holes, springs to model the rivets, and regular finite elements to model the doubler. The super element accurately models the crack and rivet holes of the skin while the regular finite element method provides the versatility to take into account the variety of doubler designs. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of this approach, and to compare different doubler designs