Macro-scale fatigue fracture analysis of multiphase bodies, aircraft design, and catastrophic failure: Two aircraft accidents

Slattery and Cizmas (2016) introduced macro-scale fatigue fracture analysis (including the entropy inequality), using seven relatively simple examples (such as laminates) to demonstrate that fracture/failure could be predicted. Here we apply this same analysis to very complex multicomponent, multiphase systems: aircraft that suffered structural failures. The first was an Airbus 300-605R on American Airlines flight 587 that lost its vertical stabilizer while in flight. The second was a BAE Jetstream 31 SX-SKY aircraft whose right main landing gear failed on touchdown. Possible implications of this study for aircraft structural design are posed. It was not necessary to make any judgement about possible pilot error.