This paper reviews some of the advances that have been made in stress analyses of cracked aircraft components, in the understanding of the fatigue and fatigue-crack growth process, and in the prediction of residual strength of complex aircraft structures with widespread fatigue damage. Finite-element analyses of cracked structures are now used to determine accurate stress-intensity factors for ...

The use of structural adhesives in automotive industry is increasing steadily, as manufacturers become aware of the advantages that adhesives can offer, compared with the conventional techniques. However, not only the adhesive properties must be analyzed, the geometry must be taken into account as well 1 . It is theoretically and experimentally proved that, adhesive joints are more reliable tha...