Title: Optimal sizing of a composite sandwich fuselage component

Authors: Robert Ley, Alan Peltier

Addresses: Northrop Grumman Corporation, Integrated Systems and Aerostructures Sector, 2540 Crown Way, Fullerton, CA 92833, USA. Northrop Grumman Corporation, Integrated Systems and Aerostructures Sector, 2540 Crown Way, Fullerton, CA 92833, USA

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.

Keywords: algorithm; composite sandwich; computer; constraints; design variables; finite element method; fuselage; load case; optimisation; programming; safety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2001.001910

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2001 Vol.25 No.1/2, pp.89-114

Published online: 18 Aug 2003 *

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