Potentiality of SHM and PFA for a new design approach of low weight aircraft structures

Successively, in order to exploit the actual residual strength of impact damaged panels, PFA has been performed also on the stiffened panels considering a discrete damage model against the traditional design approach; the latter, based on the first ply failure design criteria and assuming the structure uniformly damaged by using reduced design allowable obtained at coupon level. The results show that a significant weight reduction is potentially achievable by using PFA, and the potentiality of this methodology as a valid design tool to investigate a new design philosophy based on the evaluation of the residual strength of panels with discrete damages.