ABSTRACT
Bulging factors represent the ratio of increase in stress intensity factors for a pressurized shell when compared with plate conditions. Therefore, they influence stress-intensity-based crack-propagation methodologies. Since in a real fuselage the bulging factors depend on a number of parameters such as pressure level, skin thickness, structural area of the stiffeners, and distance between stiffeners, among others, a parametric study that gives insight into the influence of these parameters on the bulging factors is of great value. In this paper, we present selected results of such a study and summarize a reliable methodology to obtain the bulging factors.