Aerospace Structural Integrity: Metallic & Composite Design, Damage Assessment, and Repair

Modern aircraft, spacecraft, and advanced aerospace systems increasingly rely on integrated metallic and composite structures that must maintain structural integrity throughout demanding operational environments and extended service lives.

This course provides practicing engineers and technical professionals with a practical, application-focused understanding of the design, analysis, inspection, damage assessment, and repair of aerospace structures. Students examine the behavior and failure mechanisms of metallic and composite materials, including fatigue, fracture, impact damage, environmental degradation, bonded and bolted joint failures, and manufacturing defects.

The course introduces modern approaches to durability and damage tolerance, nondestructive inspection (NDI/NDE), structural repair design, repair validation, and continued airworthiness. Through aerospace case studies and engineering examples, students explore how structural design, inspection, analysis, and repair decisions work together to ensure the safety, reliability, and lifecycle performance of aircraft and spacecraft structures.

The course emphasizes practical engineering decision-making and the application of structural integrity principles to real-world aerospace design, manufacturing, maintenance, and repair environments.