AON Engineering offers the following range of services in support of design and component assessment:

• Stress Analysis
• Fatigue Assessment and Fracture Analysis
• Damage Tolerance Calculations
• Contact Analysis and Frictional Effects
• Dynamic Analysis
• Seismic Analysis (Nuclear Structures)
• Impact Analysis
• Airframe Structure Assessment
• Structural Steelwork Assesment
• Strain Gauge Calibrations & assessment

Appropriate use of one or more of the above techniques ensures that the basic mechanical characteristics of a given design (or existing structural component) are adequate i.e. the design is fit for purpose. An assessment of a component design can dramatically reduce the need for extensive pre-production testing and is therefore cost effective. This process also has the effect of adding value to the product.

Similarly, existing designs or components can be assessed, using the same techniques, to determine their response to the loading cycles, which they are likely to be subjected. Typically, knowledge of the response to three types of loading regimes is required:

• Normal Operational Loads
• Proof Loads - Occasional Loads which the structure must stand without any permanent deformation
• Ultimate Loads - Exceptional Loads which require the component not to fail, but the loads are sufficiently large that permanent deformation will occur.

Effectively this type of analysis is a lifetime review of the structural behavior. This forms the basis of a structural integrity assessment procedure for normal operation. The effects of exceptional loadings on the residual life of a structure or component can also be assessed for such criteria as fail-safe operation.