Fatigue of cracked plates repaired with single-sided composite patches

Analytical and experimental techniques were employed to analyze the fracture and fatigue behaviors of cracked plates repaired with a single-sided composite patch. The research revealed that both plate and patch thicknesses may play significant roles on fatigue life of the cracked plate with an asymmetric repair. The finite element method is insufficient to predict the actual behavior of the fracture surface of a fatigue crack in a plate with single-sided repair.