Abstract
In this study, the behavior of repaired cracks, located in aluminum alloy sheets 2024T3, with bonded composite patch is analyzed experimentally and numerically. The experimental study has been conducted through fatigue tests on aluminum cracked plate repaired with Carbon/epoxy patch. In the numerical analysis, the stress intensity factor at the crack front is computed using three-dimensional finite element method. The obtained results show that the stress intensity factor at the crack front is highly reduced by the presence of the patch repair. Therefore, the fatigue life of the damaged structure can be significantly improved especially if the patch repair is applied at small crack lengths.