Method for repairing a hole in a structural wall of composite material

A method of repairing a structural wall of composite material which has been damaged by the formation of a hole in a region of the wall which must in use carry tension loads, comprising:

• providing an insert constructed from a material that is capable of carrying tension loads, and which is dimensioned to span across the hole and extend beyond the hole on at least two opposite sides of the hole, said insert having a relatively narrow central portion and substantially wider end portions;
• forming a cavity in the wall which in plan form is sized and shaped to snugly receive said insert, and is positioned so that the relatively narrow central portion of the insert will span across the hole in the wall and the substantially wider end portions of the insert will be embedded into the wall on opposite sides of the hole in a direction coinciding with the direction of tension loads in the wall, so that the end portions of the insert will interlock with the end portions of the cavity in the wall and tension loads will be carried by the insert from a region of the wall on one side of the hole, across the hole to a region of the wall on the opposite side of the hole;
• placing the insert in said cavity;
• and
• securing the insert in said cavity, and
• further comprising dressing the hole in the wall to give the hole a smoothly curving edge, and a dimension across that is wider than the narrow central portion of the insert, and introducing a filler compound into such hole on opposite sides of the narrow central portion of the insert.