International Journal of Aerospace and Lightweight Structures

doi: 10.3850/S2010428612000499

Some Structural Design Issues For Composite Fuselages Of Civil Aircrafts

Fang Fang^1,2, Xiaodan Zhong², Nian Li² and Puhui Chen^{2 1}Shanghai Aircraft Design & Research Institute, Shanghai 201210, China. ²College of Aerospace Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.

ABSTRACT

The application of composite materials to fuselage structures has impressive advantages, such as weight reduction and cost saving, without reducing the safety level of the aircraft. The use of composite materials becomes the tendency of future civil aircraft design. This paper summarizes some significant programs associated with the application of compos- ite materials to civil aircraft fuselage structures under the NASA-sponsored contracts. Meanwhile, design requirements are stated to ensure compliance with aviation regula- tions and company objectives. At last, some typical design details and major technical issues of composite fuselage structures are defined and discussed. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) methods are developed by authors for the design of structural details. The FEA methods validated by experimental results could be widely applied in future composite fuselage design.

Keywords: Composite, Design requirements, Design details, Fuselage structure.

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