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Validation of Design and Analysis Techniques of Tailored Composite StructuresAeroelasticity is the relationship between the elasticity of an aircraft structure and its aerodynamics. This relationship can cause instabilities such as flutter in a wing. Engineers have long studied aeroelasticity to ensure such instabilities do not become a problem within normal operating conditions. In recent decades structural tailoring has been used to take advantage of aeroelasticity. It is possible to tailor an aircraft structure to respond favorably to multiple different flight regimes such as takeoff, landing, cruise, 2-g pull up, etc. Structures can be designed so that these responses provide an aerodynamic advantage. This research investigates the ability to design and analyze tailored structures made from filamentary composites. Specifically the accuracy of tailored composite analysis must be verified if this design technique is to become feasible. To pursue this idea, a validation experiment has been performed on a small-scale filamentary composite wing box. The box is tailored such that its cover panels induce a global bend-twist coupling under an applied load. Two types of analysis were chosen for the experiment. The first is a closed form analysis based on a theoretical model of a single cell tailored box beam and the second is a finite element analysis. The predicted results are compared with the measured data to validate the analyses. The comparison of results show that the finite element analysis is capable of predicting displacements and strains to within 10% on the small-scale structure. The closed form code is consistently able to predict the wing box bending to 25% of the measured value. This error is expected due to simplifying assumptions in the closed form analysis. Differences between the closed form code representation and the wing box specimen caused large errors in the twist prediction. The closed form analysis prediction of twist has not been validated from this test.
Document ID
20040200977
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Thesis/Dissertation
Authors
Jegley, Dawn C. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Wijayratne, Dulnath D. (George Washington Univ. Hampton, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 2004
Subject Category
Structural Mechanics
Report/Patent Number
NASA/CR-2004-212650
Funding Number(s)
WORK_UNIT: WU 23-762-55-TA
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC1-03008
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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