Correlation of mission type to cyclic loading as a basis for agile military aircraft asset management

Military attack aircraft are susceptible to the harmful effects of widespread fatigue damage caused by cyclic loading of structural components, which leads to airframe retirement. Modern structural health monitoring techniques use a multitude of sensors and high data collection rates. Some legacy airframes, which are most susceptible to fatigue damage due to their age, possess a counting accelerometer technology with few sensors and low data capture rates. The data provided by these 40-year old devices are crucial to understanding fleet health and can be used to extend structural lifetime for aging aircraft. Existing literature has addressed counting accelerometer usefulness, but a profound three-decade gap in research has led to a chasm between the current wealth of available data and tool development for utilizing those data. This research uses 11 years of A-10 Thunderbolt II counting accelerometer data to prove that mission type, mission duration and aircraft type correlate to aircraft loading patterns. It is shown that a mission type model can therefore influence fleet management strategies and the structural lifetime extension for aging aircraft.