Optimal sizing of a composite sandwich fuselage component
by Robert Ley, Alan Peltier
International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD), Vol. 25, No. 1/2, 2001

Abstract: This paper looks at structural optimisation techniques applied to real aerospace vehicle shell systems, e.g. the fuselage of a commercial transport aircraft. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a commercially available, gradient-based structural optimisation tool to minimise the weight of an advanced polymer matrix composite (PMC) honeycomb sandwich barrel representing a fuselage section of a future high speed civil transport. The finite element method using MSC/NASTRAN was chosen for the structural analysis. The key contributions of this study are the demonstration of the application of state-of-the-art structural optimisation techniques to the sizing of a complex shell representative of a realistic vehicle fuselage structure and the lessons learned from this demonstration.

Online publication date: Mon, 18-Aug-2003

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com