http://www.flightlearnings.com/2011/03/22/composite-construction-part-two-compositematerials-in-aircraft/ http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/structures/structuraldesign.html aeweb.tamu.edu/haisler/aero405/.../A03_Material_Properties.doc http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/frp/egypt.pdf http://mguadagnini.staff.shef.ac.uk/frp/frp.

php Aircraft Structural Design Introduction Although the major focus of structural design in the early development of aircraft was on strength, now structural designers also deal with fail-safety, fatigue, corrosion, maintenance and inspectability, and producability.

Structural Concepts Modern aircraft structures are designed using a semi-monocoque concept- a basic loadcarrying shell reinforced by frames and longerons in the bodies, and a skin-stringer construction supported by spars and ribs in the surfaces. Proper stress levels, a very complex problem in highly redundant structures, are calculated using versatile computer matrix methods to solve for detailed internal loads. Modern finite element models of aircraft components include tens-of-thousands of degrees-of-freedom and are used to determine the required skin thicknesses to avoid excessive stress levels, deflections, strains, or buckling. The goals of detailed design are to reduce or eliminate stress concentrations, residual stresses, fretting corrosion, hidden undetectable cracks, or single failure causing component failure. Open sections, such as Z or J sections, are used to permit inspection of stringers and avoid moisture accumulation. Fail-safe design is achieved through material selection, proper stress levels, and multiple load path structural arrangements which maintain high strength in the presence of a crack or damage. Examples of the latter are: a)Use of tear-stoppers b)Spanwise wing and stabilizer skin splices Analyses introduce cyclic loads from ground-air-ground cycle and from power spectral density descriptions of continuous turbulence. Component fatigue test results are fed into the program and the cumulative fatigue damage is calculated. Stress levels are adjusted to achieve required structural fatigue design life. Design Life Criteria -- Philosophy

Fatigue failure life of a structural member is usually defined as the time to initiate a crack which would tend to reduce the ultimate strength of the member. Fatigue design life implies the average life to be expected under average aircraft utilization and loads environment. To this design life, application of a fatigue life scatter factor accounts for the typical variations from the average utilization, loading environments, and basic fatigue strength allowables. This leads to a safe-life period during which the probability of a structural crack occurring is very low. With fail-safe, inspectable design, the actual structural life is much greater. The overall fatigue life of the aircraft is the time at which the repair of the structure is no longer economically feasible. Scatter factors of 2 to 4 have been used to account for statistical variation in component fatigue tests and unknowns in loads. Load unknowns involve both methods of calculation and type of service actually experienced. Primary structure for present transport aircraft is designed, based on average expected operational conditions and average fatigue test results, for 120,000 hrs. For the best current methods of design, a scatter factor of 2 is typically used, so that the expected crack-free structural life is 60,000 hrs, and the probability of attaining a crack-free structural life of 60,000 hrs is 94 percent as shown in the following figure and table. s.f. = N / Np Probability of Survival (%) Np (Flight Hours) (N = 120,000 hrs) Np (Years) (3,000 flight hrs / year) 2.0 94.0 60,000 20 2.5 97.5 48,000 16 3.0 98.8 40,000 13.3 3.5 99.3 34,300 11.4 4.0 99.54 30,000 10.0 With fail-safe design concepts, the usable structural life would be much greater, but in practice, each manufacturer has different goals regarding aircraft structural life. Materials Choice of materials emphasizes not only strength/weight ratio but also: Fracture toughness Crack propagation rate Notch sensitivity Stress corrosion resistance Exfoliation corrosion resistance

Acoustic fatigue testing is important in affected portions of structure. Doublers are used to reduce stress concentrations around splices, cut-outs, doors, windows, access panels, etc., and to serve as tear-stoppers at frames and longerons. Generally DC-10 uses 2024-T3 aluminum for tension structure such as lower wing skins, pressure critical fuselage skins and minimum gage applications. This material has excellent fatigue strength, fracture toughness and notch sensitivity. 7075-T6 aluminum has the highest strength with acceptable toughness. It is used for strength critical structures such as fuselage floor beams, stabilizers and spar caps in control surfaces. It is also used for upper wing skins. For those parts in which residual stresses could possibly be present, 7075-T73 material is used. 7075-T73 material has superior stress corrosion resistance and exfoliation corrosion resistance, and good fracture toughness. Typical applications are fittings that can have detrimental preloads induced during assembly or that are subjected to sustained operational loads. Thick-section forgings are 7075-T73, due to the possible residual stresses induced during heat treatment. The integral ends of 7075-T6 stringers and spar caps are overaged to T73 locally. This unique use of the T73 temper virtually eliminates possibility of stress corrosion cracking in critical joint areas. Miscellaneous Numbers Although the yield stress of 7075 or 2024 Aluminum is higher, a typical value for design stress at limit load is 54,000 psi. The density of aluminum is .101 lb / in3 Minimum usable material thickness is about 0.06 inches for high speed transport wings. This is set by lightning strike requirements. (Minimum skin gauge on other portions of the aircraft, such as the fuselage, is about 0.05 inches to permit countersinking for flush rivets. On the Cessna Citation, a small high speed airplane, 0.04 inches is the minimum gauge on the inner portion of the wing, but 0.05 inches is preferred. Ribs may be as thin as 0.025 inches. Spar webs are about 0.06 inches at the tip. For low speed aircraft where flush rivets are not a requirement and loads are low, minimum skin gauge is as low as 0.016 inches where little handling is likely, such as on outer wings and tail cones. Around fuel tanks (inboard wings) 0.03 inches is minimum. On light aircraft, the spar or spars carry almost all of the bending and shear loads. Wing skins are generally stiffened. Skins contribute to compression load only near the spars (which serve as stiffeners in a limited area). Lower skins do contribute to tension capability but the main function of the skin in these cases is to carry torsion loads and define the section shape. In transport wings, skin thicknesses usually are large enough, when designed for bending, to handle torsion loads.

Fuel density is 6.7 lb/gallon. Structural Optimization and Design Structures are often analyzed using complex finite element analysis methods. These tools have evolved over the past decades to be the basis of most structural design tasks. A candidate structure is analyzed subject to the predicted loads and the finite element program predicts deflections, stresses, strains, and even buckling of the many elements. The designed can then resize components to reduce weight or prevent failure. In recent years, structural optimization has been combined with finite element analysis to determine component gauges that may minimize weight subject to a number of constraints. Such tools are becoming very useful and there are many examples of substantial weight reduction using these methods. Surprisingly, however, it appears that modern methods do not do a better job of predicting failure of the resulting designs, as shown by the figure below, constructed from recent Air Force data. Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) are composite materials comprising a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibers are usually glass, carbon, or aramid fibres, while the polymer is usually an epoxy, vinylester or polyester thermosetting plastic. FRPs are commonly used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and construction industries. The primary role of the matrix in composites is to provide lateral support and protection to the fibres and the choice of the type of matrix is dictated by compatibility with the FRP manufacturing process, mechanical properties of the fibres and other chemical attributes. Due to the non-structural importance of the resins, as well as their high cost, a minimum resin volume ratio is always desirable. However, the maximum fibre ratio that can be achieved is normally below 70%. FRP materials can be manufactured by using different techniques such as pultrusion, filament winding, moulding, braiding and manual lay-up and can be produced in various shapes. As for conventional steel reinforcement, non-ferrous composite materials are manufactured in forms of rebars, sheets, grids and links. The most common method of producing FRP rebars is pultrusion, in which the fibres are continuous and unidirectional. Several shapes can be made but the most common shape used is circular. Links, however, are more difficult to produce. Currently available links are made by post-curing of fibre bundles pulled wet or by filament winding. Thermosetting resins have also been used, since they allow bending of FRPs after manufacture. Composites can be engineered to meet the specific demands of each particular application and their overall performance and characteristics depend on the choice of materials (fibre and matrix), the volume fraction of fibre and matrix, fibre orientation, fabrication method. Furthermore, in order to enhance the bond characteristics of FRP reinforcing bar in concrete, several techniques are used including surface deformations, sand coating, over-moulding a new surface on the bar or a combination of processes. Figure 1 shows the generic mechanical properties of FRP reinforcement according to the type of fibres used in their manufacture. Figure 1: Tensile properties for steel and a range of FRP reinforcements

FRP products are characterized by a perfectly elastic behaviour up to failure and can develop higher tensile strength than conventional steel in the direction of the fibres. This anisotropy, however, seriously affects the shear strength, which is very low, compared to the tensile strength, and depends on the properties of the matrix and orientation of the fibres. It also reduces the ability of the composite to resist forces perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. The elastic modulus of FRP materials used in construction generally varies between 20% of that of steel for glass fibres to 75% of that of steel for carbon fibres. As a result, more flexible RC elements are obtained which develop higher strains in tension and reach higher overall deformations. Higher strains in tension and smaller areas in compression are expected to influence the shear behaviour. Although these materials, in general, have a low compressive strength, due to low buckling strength of the individual fibres, this is not usually a concern since, in the majority of civil engineering applications, these elements are essentially used only in tension. The main advantages and disadvantages of these advanced composite materials versus steel are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages of FRP reinforcement

Advantages Disadvantages

higher ratio of strength to self weight (10 to 15 times greater than steel ) higher raw material cost

carbon and aramid fibre reinforcement have excellent fatigue characteristics lower elastic modules (except some Carbon FRPs)

excellent corrosion resistance and electromagnetic neutrality Glass FRP reinforcement suffers from stress corrosion

low axial coefficient of thermal expansion lack of ductility High strength and low elastic modulus compared to steel are the distinctive properties of FRP materials. As a result of this, and the fact that FRP materials, unlike steel, do not offer plasticity, a different behaviour is expected for FRP compared to steel RC elements. This leads not only to different load-deflection characteristics, but also to a change in the mode of failure, which becomes substantially brittle, even in flexure, and consequently, can cause major problems when designing according to the same philosophy as was developed for steel RC structures.

http://www.gulfcomposite.com/pdf/frp_composites-processing_april-2009.pdf http://composite.about.com/od/referencematerials/a/Properties-Of-Frp-Composites.htm Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites are used in a wide variety of applications. Their mechanical properties provide unique benefits to the product they are molded into. FRP composite materials possess superior mechanical properties including: Impact resistance Strength Stiffness Flexibility Ability to carry loads When designing products out of FRP materials, engineers use sophisticated composite material software which calculates the known properties of given the composite. Typical tests used to measure the mechanical properties of FRP composites include: Shear stiffness Tensile Flexible Modulus Impact The two major components of an FRP composite material is resin and reinforcement. A cured thremosetting resin with out any reinforcement is glass like in nature and appearance, but often very brittle. By adding a reinforcing fiber such as carbon fiber, glass, or aramid, the properties are vastly improved. Additionally, with reinforcing fiber, a composite can have anisotropic properties. Meaning, the composite can be engineered to have different properties in different directions depending on the orientation of the fiber reinforcement. Aluminum, steel, and other metals have isotropic properties, meaning, equal strength in all directions. A composite material, with anisotropic properties, can have additional

reinforcement in the direction of stresses, and this can create more efficient structures at lighter weights. For example, a pultruded rod having all fiberglass reinforcement in the same parallel direction could have tensile strength upwards of 150,000 PSI. Where as a rod with the same area of random chopped fiber would only have tensile strength around 15,000 PSI. Another difference between FRP composites and metals is the reaction to impact. When metals receive impact, they can yield or dent. While FRP composites have no yield point and will not dent. http://www.scribd.com/doc/32262686/Applications-Mechanical-Properties-of-FRP http://www.cfmaier.com/products/FRP%20Repair%20Instructions.pdf http://composite.about.com/library/PR/2000/blkline1.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_material