NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Response of Composite Fuselage Sandwich Side Panels Subjected to Internal Pressure and Axial TensionThe results from an experimental and analytical study of two composite sandwich fuselage side panels for a transport aircraft are presented. Each panel has two window cutouts and three frames and utilizes a distinctly different structural concept. These panels have been evaluated with internal pressure loads that generate biaxial tension loading conditions. Design limit load and design ultimate load tests have been performed on both panels. One of the sandwich panels was tested with the middle frame removed to demonstrate the suitability of this two-frame design for supporting the prescribed biaxial loading conditions with twice the initial frame spacing of 20 inches. A damage tolerance study was conducted on the two-frame panel by cutting a notch in the panel that originates at the edge of a cutout and extends in the panel hoop direction through the window-belt area. This panel with a notch was tested in a combined-load condition to demonstrate the structural damage tolerance at the design limit load condition. Both the sandwich panel designs successfully satisfied all desired load requirements in the experimental part of the study, and experimental results from the two-frame panel with and without damage are fully explained by the analytical results. The results of this study suggest that there is potential for using sandwich structural concepts with greater than the usual 20-in. wide frame spacing to further reduce aircraft fuselage structural weight.
Document ID
19980111019
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Rouse, Marshall
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Ambur, Damodar R.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Dopker, Bernard
(Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. Seattle, WA United States)
Shah, Bharat
(Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Marietta, GA United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Subject Category
Composite Materials
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TM-1998-208213
AIAA Paper 98-1708
NAS 1.15:208213
Report Number: NASA/TM-1998-208213
Report Number: AIAA Paper 98-1708
Report Number: NAS 1.15:208213
Meeting Information
Meeting: Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference
Location: Long Beach, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: April 20, 1998
End Date: April 23, 1998
Sponsors: American Society of Civil Engineers, American Helicopter Society, Inc., American Society for Composites, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available