Recent Advances in Multiaxial Shock/Vibration Environment Simulation and Damage Evaluation for Aircraft

Modern aerospace vehicles operate under complex multiaxial dynamic environments throughout service, including multidirectional coupled shock, random vibration, harmonic vibration, and aeroelastic excitation. While conventional sequential uniaxial testing facilitates engineering implementation, it cannot replicate the spatial coherence, phase relationships, and nonlinear coupling effects of operational environments. This issue may bias the evaluation of structural response, fatigue damage, and onboard equipment functional degradation. This review summarizes recent advances in multiaxial shock/vibration environment simulation and damage evaluation for aerospace vehicles. It covers multiaxial load source classification, transmission paths and coupling mechanisms, dynamic response analysis, shock- and vibration-induced damage models, and updated experimental testing technologies. This work further identifies unresolved challenges in load-spectrum measurement, spectral-matrix reproduction, nonlinear path recognition, and coupled shock–vibration damage assessment. Future research directions are proposed, including multiaxial service-environment database construction, unified response and damage equivalence criteria, and integrated evaluation frameworks for structural, equipment and functional performance. This review provides technical references for the environmental design, structural qualification and reliability assessment of aerospace systems.