An equivalent uniaxial fatigue stress model for analyzing landing gear fuse pins

We study the biaxial stress state conditions in landing gear fuse pins in the fuse groove. This biaxial state comprises a combination of shear stresses which are usually the largest stresses in the fuse pin by design, and compressive stresses which keep the half-section of the fuse pin in equilibrium. Conventional fatigue analysis techniques use an equivalent uniaxial stress, based on the Mises stress of a pure-shear condition. The respective predicted fatigue damages are much higher than those obtained from fuse pin cyclic tests. A new equivalent uniaxial fatigue stress model is proposed that includes the additional compressive stress as a relief on the fatigue damage in the fuse groove, thereby explaining the observations from fuse pin tests. The model is used in conventional uniaxial strain-life fatigue software (Goodrich Aerospace’s Fatigue Life V2) to predict the fatigue damage on a landing gear fuse pin with a sample load spectrum. The results are then compared to the pure shear model, and to a biaxial finite element fatigue analysis. As compared to the equivalent Mises model, the proposed model provides less conservative estimation of the fuse pin fatigue life, the latter value being higher than that provided by the two-dimensional finite element calculation. __________ Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 3, pp. 85–98, May–June, 2006.