Unmanned aircraft structure requires design and manufacture to be greatly lower cost than manned aircraft structure since the total system cost is expected to be greatly reduced. Alongside this, the structure requires minimal inspection and maintenance and hence requires a higher level of damage tolerance than traditional airframe structure. However, the range and payload requirements of UAV systems are equivalent or greater than manned aircraft since pilot endurance is no longer the flight time limiting factor and payload requirements and agility requirements may be equivalent to current manned aircraft. Consequently, the development of low-cost and more damage-resistant airframe structure is a research target. A BAE systems/UK Government funded project, Flaviir, is investigating the design and manufacture of low-cost and damage-resistant carbon fibre composite airframe structure for large-scale unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs). The focus of this project is the investigation and development of low-cost, damage-resistant wing structure with equivalent or lower weight than current high-cost carbon fibre composite defence aircraft. The article discusses requirements and design concepts for low-cost wing structure. The use of vacuum infusion processing with slotted-type joints and stitching of the detail parts by tufting are demonstrated to greatly increase the strength of spar to skin joints and to reduce the manufacturing cost. The results will be used for the design and manufacture of a large wing box demonstrator test structure, to be manufactured in 2009.
Investigation, manufacture, and testing of damage-resistant airframe structures using low-cost carbon fibre composite materials and manufacturing technology
Untersuchung, Fertigung und Prüfung von bruchfesten Strukturen für Flugzeugzellen mit kostengünstigen Kohlenstofffaser-Verbundwerkstoffen und Fertigungstechnologien
2010
9 Seiten, 15 Bilder, 2 Tabellen, 15 Quellen
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
Aerospace technology in 1972 -- Airframe materials and structures
Engineering Index Backfile | 1963
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