Military aircraft operating in challenging environments frequently develop corrosion damage. Nearly 80% of inspected corrosion damage sites in aircraft were found to have fatigue cracks; frequently these cracks initiated from corrosion pits. These findings reveal the importance of developing advanced predictive tools to investigate the effects of corrosion and mechanical stress on aircraft operational performance. A new computational approach to characterize the effects of corrosion related defects on fatigue life is presented. This approach includes determination of SIF solutions for corrosion pit cavities with different periphery crack shapes and locations, evaluation of pit proximity interaction behavior, and simulation of pit-induced cracking to capture crack propagation path and predict impact on fatigue life. A brief background discussion on phenomenological models (Murakami defect area⁠, Kondo pit-to-crack competition model) commonly used to evaluate corrosion related defects is also provided for comparison. This work provides a new paradigm in predictive modeling where mechanistic models are developed to better quantify the cracking susceptibility of corroded surfaces. Our approach is driven by a dual mandate to develop science-based predictive methods to assess corrosion damage and support life cycle management, but with a focus on engineering scale implementation.

Subject
Pits, Crack growth, Corrosion fatigue, Modeling, Stress intensity, Crack initiation, Corrosion cracking, Stress cracking, Defects, Corrosion modeling, Pitting, Cracks, Types of corrosion
Keywords:
mechanistic corrosion damage models, predictive modelling, pit interaction, pit cavity stress intensity factor, pit-to-crack transition
© 2025 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. This work is protected by both domestic and international copyright laws. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2025
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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