How the holistic approach for GLARE development still brings benefits

icaf2023 Tracking Number 42

icaf2023 presentation

This paper presents the approach for the FAR26.21 Widespread Fatigue Damage (WFD) compliance demonstration for GLARE® skin panels of the A380-800. In 1999, Airbus decided to apply this Fibre Metal Laminate (FML) as a novel structural material for the fuselage skin panels of the A380-800. GLARE® is developed with the target to complement the advantages offered by metals, i.e. stability, ductility, isotropy, etc., with the high-strength properties of glass fibres. As a result, a multiple load path structural material is developed, which exhibits excellent damage tolerance and residual strength capabilities. WFD was covered in the F&DT calculations already for the Type Certification (TC). Several requirements, which drove the GLARE® development, resulted in a structure, which exhibits MSD scenario, but cannot lead to a critical WFD scenario. Keywords: Widespread Fatigue Damage, GLARE®, Fibre Metal Laminates