Study on the fracture mechanics phenomena in the ARIANE program

By the way of the ARIANE launcher structures and design specification, it was intended to apply the most recent research results of fracture mechanics to pressure vessels design in order to ensure safe behaviour of the product during its service life.Characterisation tests have been performed, the purpose of which was to demonstrate the feasibility of the experimental method, determining the minimum guaranteed number of cycles for a given proof factor vs the number of cycles for a known limit pressure.The method has also been applied to some pressure vessels of the ARIANE launcher.