Deep rolling two areas of an aircraft wheel rim

The rim on an aircraft is particularly stressed during taxiing on the runway when the aircraft has the maximum amount of fuel and payload and thus highest weight. The machined component exhibited two critical areas which displayed cracks in operation. In to avoid complex design modification an attempt was made to reduce the growth of cracks by introducing residual compressive stresses. The number of cycles before reaching a critical length of crack could be increased fivefold.

Deep rolling two areas of an aircraft wheel rim
Deep rolling two areas of an aircraft wheel rim