Abstract
As a result of accidents at the end of the last decade, it became apparent that new technologies, and approaches would be necessary to determine the effects of aging on the U.S. commercial aircraft fleet. At that time, almost a third of the aircraft fleet was over 20 years old, and economic considerations were driving the industry toward the retention of older aircraft. Accordingly, Congress passed the Aviation Safety Research Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-591). This Act increased the scope of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mission to include research on methods for improving maintenance technology and detecting the onset of cracking, delamination, and corrosion of aircraft structures. To facilitate this work, the FAA developed a program whereby directed research can be undertaken by industry, academia, and other government agencies. This broad range of research activities is managed by the FAA Technical Center's National Aging Aircraft Research Program (NAARP). This paper outlines the major research activities related to corrosion and corrosion fatigue in the areas of structural integrity and maintenance and repair.
