Evaluation on crashworthiness and energy absorption of composite light airplane

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to explore the safety differences when using aluminum alloy and three different fiber reinforced composites as material for the cockpit and fuselage of light aircraft under crash landing. In accordance with the cockpit reduction amount stipulated by MIL-STD-1290A in which the reducing rates in all directions cannot exceed 15%, this study established the safety zones of impact speeds and impact angles. The overall safety zones of the carbon fiber reinforced composites and glass fiber reinforced composites cockpits were higher than that of the aluminum alloy cockpit by 38.56% and 32.12%, respectively. Among the four different fuselage materials, when carbon fiber reinforced composites was used as the cockpit material, except that the reducing rate for the crashing in the Y direction was slightly higher than the aluminum alloy cockpit, the reducing rate in the X direction and the inclined beam A direction during crashes were less than other materials, and the safety of its overall cockpit was also the most superior to other materials. The energy absorption capability of the aluminum alloy fuselage was better than the fuselages of all composite materials.The energy absorption capacity during a crash will directly influence the damage level for passengers. On the other hand, due to the different structural design in the airframes of rotorcrafts, small airplanes, and large airplanes, the mechanisms of crashworthiness and energy absorption are different. Because of the space constraints, rotorcrafts and small airplanes can only rely on the fuselage, floor, seats, and landing gear to

Mechanical Response and Energy Absorption of 316L Stainless Steel Body‐Centered‐Cubic Functionally Graded Lattice Structures under Quasistatic Compressive Test

“…Energy absorption is an essential characteristic in the automotive and aerospace fields to evaluate the crashworthiness of, for example, vehicles [1] or aircraft fuselages. [2] The lattice structure is a 3D open-cell polymer structure, which has emerged as a main candidate material for energy-absorbing structures and has attracted the attention and research of many researchers due to the existence of large cavities inside the lattice structure, which is capable of large plastic deformation and presents a strong energy absorption capacity. [3][4][5] The pore size of the lattice structure is optimized to obtain a lattice structure with a density gradient usually called a functionally graded lattice structure.…”

A modified progressive damage model for simulating low-velocity impact of composite laminates

“…Compared with traditional aerospace materials, composite materials are conducive to improving structural strength and reducing weight. 1 However, their poor impact resistance may raise barely visible impact damage (BVID) 2,3 subjected to low-velocity impact, which will seriously endanger the safety and overall strength of aircraft. Numerical simulation is considered as an efficient tool to describe the complicated dynamic impact behavior of composite laminates.…”

Microstructure and Properties of Hollow Octet Nickel Lattice Materials

“…Under the same density conditions, compared with the disordered structures (such as foam and sponges), it has higher strength, modulus, energy absorption capacity and independently designed structural characteristics [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Lattice materials have become one of the research hotspots in aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, automobile and biomedicine [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”