Numerical model for the study of cracked structures subjected to residual stresses

During their operational use the aeronautic structures can be submitted to relatively moderate cyclic loads and more rarely to stern loads. These last can generate residual stress field, which will influence the in-service behaviour. Otherwise, residual stress field can be created in a voluntary way by a specific treatment (compressive stresses). They permit to improve fatigue tolerance behaviour. This illustrates the importance of the study of the structure behavior under residual stresses, and the need to consider them in numerical simulations. The objective of this work is to develop a numerical method, based on the boundary element method and the principle of superposition, to assess the influence of residual stresses on fracture mechanics parameters.