Analysis of Deformation in Aircraft Skin Vacuum Adsorption Clamping

Abstract

Large lightweight alloy skin panels are extensively utilized in the aerospace industry and serve as crucial components constituting the outer shells of aircraft, launch vehicles, manned spacecraft, and other equipment. However, due to their thin-walled nature and limited stiffness, they are susceptible to clamping deformation and machining-induced deformations. Vacuum adsorption technology is widely employed in aircraft manufacturing to mitigate part deformation during machining through the utilization of profiling molds. However, to achieve the milling and drilling tasks in a single clamping process, it is necessary to reserve drilling positions in the vacuum adsorption mold. Unfortunately, this leads to significant deformation of the aircraft skin at the reserved drilling positions during processing. This article utilizes finite element simulation technology to analyze the deformation of the aircraft skin during the vacuum adsorption clamping process. The simulation results indicate that the maximum deformation reaches 5.602 mm, which primarily occurs at the middle hole of the vacuum adsorption mold. To address this issue, the article proposes a solution of adding sealing strips around the reserved holes. This solution effectively reduces the deformation of the skin during the processing stage.