Nonlinear Analysis and Post-Test Correlation for a Curved PRSEUS Panel

52nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting

2014

Self Cite

A lighter, more robust airframe is one of the key technological advancements necessary for the successful launch of any large next-generation transport aircraft. Such a premise dictates that considerable improvements beyond current state-of-the-art aluminum structures is needed, and that improvements of this magnitude will require an extensive use of composite materials that are not only lightweight, but also economical to produce. To address this challenge, researchers at NASA and The Boeing Company are developing a novel structural concept called the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) under the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project. It is an integrally stiffened panel concept that is stitched together and designed to maintain residual load-carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios. In addition to improved structural performance, an important facet of this unique arrangement of stitched carbon fibers is its innovative manufacturing method that has the potential to lower fabrication costs by eliminating fasteners and autoclave cures. The rationale and development status for this new approach forms the basis of the work described in this paper. The test specimens described herein were fabricated, or are currently being fabricated, by The Boeing Company, while the structural analyses and testing tasks are being performed by NASA and Boeing personnel. Nomenclature BVID = barely visible impact damage DLL = design limit load DSD = discrete source damage DUL = design ultimate load EA = section modulus EI = section stiffness

Section: American Institute Of Aeronautics and Astronauticssupporting

confidence: 53%

“…6) was completed. [7][8][9][10][11][12] The characteristic crack turning-and-arrest failure mode was first observed in a series of flat tension coupons with stitched and unstitched laminates ( Fig. 7).…”

Section: A Demonstrating Damage-arrest Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

PRSEUS Structural Concept Development

Velicki

52nd Aerospace Sciences Meeting

2014

Self Cite

“…[2][3][4][5] NASA and Boeing are exploring fundamental PRSEUS technologies that could someday be implemented on a transport-size airplane design. In ERA and previous programs, the PRSEUS concept was evaluated analytically and experimentally using a building-block approach [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] that culminates in the test of a large 30-foot-long multi-bay pressure box that will be subjected to combined bending and internal pressure loadings. The subject of this paper is the ongoing development of this multi-bay pressure box test article that will be tested in 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the PRSEUS Multi-Bay Pressure Box for a Hybrid Wing Body Vehicle

56th AIAA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference

Velicki

2015

Self Cite

NASA has created the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project to explore and document the feasibility, benefits, and technical risk of advanced vehicle configurations and enabling technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. A critical aspect of this pursuit is the development of a lighter, more robust airframe that will enable the introduction of unconventional aircraft configurations that have higher lift-to-drag ratios, reduced drag, and lower community noise. Although such novel configurations like the Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) offer better aerodynamic performance as compared to traditional tube-and-wing aircraft, their blended wing shapes also pose significant new design challenges. Developing an improved structural concept that is capable of meeting the structural weight fraction allocated for these non-circular pressurized cabins is the primary obstacle in implementing large lifting-body designs. To address this challenge, researchers at NASA and The Boeing Company are working together to advance new structural concepts like the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS), which is an integrally stiffened panel design that is stitched together and designed to maintain residual load-carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios. The large-scale multi-bay fuselage test article described in this paper is the final specimen in a building-block test program that was conceived to demonstrate the feasibility of meeting the structural weight goals established for the HWB pressure cabin. Nomenclature BVID = barely visible impact damage DLL = design limit load DUL = design ultimate load HWB = hybrid wing body Nx, Ny, Nz = running loads in x, y, z directions, respectively, in HWB

Damage Arresting Composites

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering

Davis

2014

NASA has created the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project to explore and document the feasibility, benefits, and technical risk of advanced vehicle configurations and enable technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. A critical aspect of this pursuit is the development of a lighter, more robust airframe that will enable the introduction of unconventional aircraft configurations that have higher lift‐to‐drag ratios, reduced drag, and lower community noise. Although such novel configurations such as the hybrid wing body (HWB) have the potential to offer better aerodynamic performance compared with traditional tube‐and‐wing aircraft, their blended wing shapes also pose significant new design challenges for their noncircular pressure cabins. Developing an improved structural concept that is capable of meeting the structural weight fraction allocated for these pressurized cabin designs is the primary obstacle in implementing large lifting body designs such as the HWB. To address this challenge, researchers at NASA and the Boeing Company are working together to advance new structural concepts that could some day be implemented in transport‐size airplanes. One such concept under investigation is the pultruded rod stitched efficient unitized structure (PRSEUS), which is an integrally stiffened panel design that is stitched together and designed to maintain residual load‐carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios, making it uniquely capable to meet the structural fractions established for the HWB cabin design.