DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF BULKHEAD LAMINATED WITH PALMYRA AND EPOXY COMPOSITE MATERIALS USING FEM

Prof.R.Arravind1, Dr.M.Saravanan2 , R.Mohamed Rijuvan3 Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Excel College of Engineering & Technology, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Principal, SBM College of Engineering & Technology, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Final Year, B.E Aeronautical Engineering, Excel College of Engineering & Technology, Tamil Nadu, India Email id: arravind_r@rediffmail.com, drmsaravanan@yahoo.com, rijuvanaero09@gmail.com Abstract: This paper describes a conceptual design of fuselage bulkhead structure for very light jet aircraft by using CAD software as the design tool. Specific size and performance, the number of competing designs and the commonality of features with existing light jet aircraft are factors need to be considered in the design process. This conceptual design develops the first general size and configuration for a new light jet aircraft fuselage structure. The model of the fuselage structure is then undergoing engineering simulation programmed which is based on the finite element method. In this analysis, problems with multiple components are modeled by associating the geometry defining each component with the appropriate material model and specifying component interaction. Besides that, the load increments and convergence tolerance are continually adjusted to ensure an accurate solution is obtained. Keywords: - Bulkhead design, Finite element analysis, Fuselage structure, Optimization. 1. INTRODUCTION The basic fuselage structure is essentially a single cell thin walled tube with many transverse frames called bulkhead and longitudinal stringers to provide a combined structure which can absorb and transmit the many concentrated and distributed applied forces safely and efficiently. The present study focusing on the optimizing the natural orientation for bulkhead which is made up of Palmyra and Epoxy composite by using Finite Element Method (FEM). The study also includes the deformation, stress, failure criteria for different applied loads. Designing an aircraft can be an overwhelming task for a new designer. The designer must determine where the wing goes, how big to make the fuselage, and how to put all the pieces together. A sound choice of the general arrangement of a new aircraft design should be based on a proper investigation into and interpretation of the transport function and a translation of the most pertinent requirements into a suitable positioning of the major parts in relation to each other. No clear-cut design procedure can be followed and the task of devising the configuration is therefore a highly challenging one to the resourceful designer [1][2]. Several researches of fuselage structure have been conducted to get a good configuration of the aircraft. Marco et al. [3] showed a design and analysis of composite fuselage structure in order to reduce the weight of the fuselage. It presented a new methodology developed for an analytical model of a composite fuselage. It also presented finite element analysis of a simplified model and comparisons with more complete model. This comparison assesses the weight reduction obtained with the use of composite materials for designing fuselage. Further, From the study, we concluded that various loads will be applied to be carried out for the present study model. Semi Monocoque Construction: Semi monocoque fuselage design (Fig. 1) usually uses combination of longerons, stringers, bulkheads, and frames to reinforce the skin and maintain the cross sectional shape of the fuselage. The skin of the fuselage is fastened to all this members in order to resists shear load and together with the longitudinal members, the tension and bending load. In this design structure, fuselage bending load are taken by longerons which are supplemented by other longitudinal members known as stringers. Stringers are smaller and lighter than longerons. They provide rigidity to the fuselage in order to give shape and attachment to the skin. Stringer and longerons are essential to prevent tension and compression stress from bending the fuselage. The fuselage skin thickness varies with the load carried and the stresses sustain at particular location. Moreover, bulkheads are used where concentrated loads are introduced into the fuselage, such as those at wing, landing gear, and tail surface attach points. Frames are used primarily to maintain the shape of the fuselage and improve the stability of the stringers in compression. The benefits of semi monocoque design is it overcome the strength to weight problem occurred in monocoque construction.
1

Figure 1 Semi-monocoque construction 2. THE FLOW CHART OF FEA

Start Create 3D CAD Model

Clean up the 3D CAD Model Save the 3D CAD Geometry Save the 3D CAD Geometry in Neutral format Define Material Properties Solve Post Processing Stop
3. LITERATURE SURVEY Benjamin F. Ruffner [1] made an investigation to determine the possibility of using the photo elastic method for the stress analysis of bulkhead in monocoque structures. Tests of circular ring models were made to determine the effect of the skin thickness on the model results. The skin effects are eliminated for the study. The results indicate that the photoelastic method is quite accurate. The method is recommended for use where bulkheads with a large number of redundancies are present. Ferhun C. Caner et al.,[3] made a study about the size effect on strength of laminate-foam sandwich plates using Finite element analysis with interface fracture. Zero-thickness interface elements with a softening cohesive law are used to model

fractures at the skinfoam interface, in the fiber composite skins, and in the foam. The fracture energy and fracture process zone length of a shear crack in foam near the interface are deduced by fitting an analytical expression for size effect to the test data. Numerical simulations reveal that small-size specimens with notches just under the top skin develop plastic zones in the foam core near the edges of the loading platen, and that small-size specimens with notches just above the bottom skin develop distributed quasi brittle fracture in the foam core under tension. Both phenomena, though, are found to reduce the maximum load by less than 6%. Further it is shown that, in notch-less beams, the interface shear fracture is coupled with compression crushing of the fiberpolymer composite skin. For small specimens this mechanism is important because, when it is blocked in simulations, the maximum load increases. The size effect law for notch-less beams is calibrated such that beams of all sizes fail solely by interface shear fracture. Seth S. Kessler et al.,[8] focused on the Design, Analysis and Testing of a High-g Composite Fuselage Structure. The aft section of the vehicle is not only subjected to high impulsive inertial loads, but its weight has a substantial effect on the controllability of the vehicle. Finite element models of this section as well as hand lay-up test specimens were produced to optimize the design. These specimens were tested statically as well as in a dynamic environment. Priyadarsini.R.S. et al.,[7] carried out the Numerical and Experimental Study of Buckling of Advanced Fiber Composite Cylinders under axial compression. The thin-walled structures are susceptible to buckling when subjected to static and dynamic compressive stresses. In this study the details of a numerical (FEM) and an experimental study on buckling of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) layered composite cylinders under displacement and load controlled static and dynamic axial compression are reported. The effects of different types of loadings, geometric properties, lamina lay-up and amplitudes of imperfection on the strength of the cylinders under compression are studied. It is shown that the buckling behavior of thin composite cylindrical shells can be evaluated accurately by modeling measured imperfections and material properties in FEM. 4. DESIGN METHODOLOGY

4.1 Modeling of Case Setup From the reference [1], the bulkhead whose having the 0.509m outer radius and 0.549m inner

radius,0.5m width and 0.010m thickness taken for the study.

The modeling has been done in such a way to provide the epoxy and carbon fiber properties as individual for the analysis.

Figure 2: The modeling of the bulkhead 4.2 Pre-Processing Density 1200 kg m^-3

Figure 4: The Meshed model for Analysis. Parameters

Young's Modulus Pa Poisson's Ratio 1.46e+008 4.2.1 Finite Element Analysis In the fuselage structure, the frames are stiffening elements, acting in circumferential direction, that can be viewed as closed curved beams whose role may vary in dependence of their location along the fuselage and their interaction with the neighbouring structures. In this study, the frame and the skin with stringers at first are modeled and analyzed separately in order to see the stress working over every node on them. Then the analysis of combination of them is done. All of them are drawn by using software Pro/E v5.0 and Ansys 12.0 for finite element analysis. Figure 3 shows the frame under several loading working on it, and figure 2 shows the part of fuselage structure which analyzed by finite element method. 0.27

Element Size Nodes Elements

5.e-003 m 68793 13550

The model files are transferred to common iges/step format. The meshing has been carried out by importing the corresponding iges file format to ANSYS . The Tetra element type and shell181 element has chosen for meshing the model. The figure 4 indicates the meshed model for Analysis. The material properties are given as Youngs modulus (E1) as 146MPa , the poison ratio as 0.27. 5. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The finite element analysis model results show that the design structure is rigid and safe. It can be shown in three kind of result of the analysis. The first is the stress distribution of frame in the unit of MPa as shown in figure 3 under several loads (consentrated force and pressure).

Fig. 3 Loads on the frame structure.

Fig. 5 The stress distribution of loaded frame.

The second result is the fuselage skin with the stringers which loaded by the internal pressure as 1 atm. The meshing of it and the stress distribution are shown in figure 5.The third result is the combination of frame and skin with stringers. The meshing and the stress distribution are shown in figure 6. The result at this stage, i.e. using finite element analysis, is satisfied since the stress occurred is far below the yield strength of the material (345 MPa). However, the frame geometry is quite complex: it is characterized by a variable crosssection along its perimeter and, generally, it is not built in one single piece, but by assembling a number of subelements; the external flange is connected to the skin that presents a varying thickness along the frame perimeter. Furthermore, the solution of the stringer crossing problem produces different structural configurations: from the simple floating frames up to the more complex frames with integral or separate shear ties. Such that, more detail analysis is needed in order to get the more fine result. Besides that, the experimental testing and analysis would be done after for validating the result.

Figure 7: (a) The Maximum Principal Stress Contour of the natural Orientation

Figure 7: (b) The Minimum Principal Stress Contour of the Laminate Orientation

Figure 6: The Displacement Contour of the Natural Orientation The Principal stress is evaluated for the study of laminate orientation characteristic further. The Table shows the Principal Stress and Principal Strain in the laminates. Figure 8: (a) The Maximum Principal Strain Contour of the Natural Orientation

Maximum Principal Stress (Pa) Minimum Principal Stress (Pa) 6. Results Total Deformation Equivalent Elastic Strain Equivalent Stress (Pa) Maximum Principal Elastic Strain Minimum Principal Elastic Strain Maximum Principal Stress (Pa) Minimum Principal Stress (Pa) Figure 9: The Von Mises Stress Contour of the Natural Orientation Results Further, the study has been extension to finding the deformation at various applied load condition. The table shows the deformation of naturals at given applied loads. Result Total Deformation Equivalent Elastic Strain Equivalent Stress (Pa) Maximum Principal Elastic Strain Minimum Principal Elastic Strain Minimum 0. m 2.0787e-007 30.349 1.6479e-007 -5.5873e-006 Maximum 9.4626e-008 m 7.4439e-006 1086.8 7.9237e-006 -1.2853e-007 Total Deformation Equivalent Elastic Strain Equivalent Stress (Pa) Maximum Principal Elastic Strain

-177.88 -945.89

1274.9 72.661

COMPARATIVE STUDY Aluminum Alloy 1.9358e010 m 1.4801e008 1050.9 Copper Alloy 1.2473e010 m 9.4954e009 1044.5

Epoxy and Palmyra 9.4626e008 m 7.4439e006 1086.8

Figure 8: (b) The Principal Strain Contour of the Natural Orientation The study has been elaborate to find the yield criteria of the natural orientations. The Table indicates the von mises stress of the naturals.

7.9237e006

1.5736e008

1.0077e008

-1.2853e007

-3.3675e010

-2.2645e010

1274.9

1329.1

1340.5

72.661

149.77

165.74

Structural Steel 6.8972e-011 m

Titanium Alloy 1.4231e-010

5.3463e-009

1.0744e-008

1069.3

1031.4

5.6982e-009

1.1342e-008

Minimum Principal Elastic Strain Maximum Principal Stress (Pa) Minimum Principal Stress (Pa)

-1.0612e-010

-2.8247e-010

Fig.10 Structural view of an aircraft fuselage

8. CONCLUSION The conceptual design of fuselage bulkhead structure of light jet aircraft has been presented. The result shows that the fuselage structure is rigid and safe according to the failure theory analysis, which means the working stress is far below the yield strength of the materials. The result at this stage is satisfied but it needs more attention to the critical area of the structure since the fuselage is not as one body but consist of assembly parts constructed it. The critical area in this study also includes the kinds of joins which assembled the whole parts. In turn, the design needs validation by experimental test and analysis with static and dynamic loads in order to get the good and safety result before producing the very light jet aircraft and sport aircraft like Throp T211. 9. REFERENCE [1] Benjamin F. Ruffner, Stress Analysis of Monocoque Fuselage Bulkheads by the Photoelastic Method, Oregon State College, December 1942(870) [2] Bauchau et al., Torsional Buckling Analysis and Damage Tolerance of Graphite/Epoxy Shafts Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 22 March 1988. [3] C.Cerulli et al.,Parametric Modeling of Aircraft Families for Load Calculation Support, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics [4] Bruhn.E.F., Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures, [5] Hu.H.T., Buckling Optimization of fibercomposite Laminate shells with Large Deformation National Center for Composite Materials Research, University of Illinois. [6] Hu.H.T., Buckling Optimization of fibercomposite Laminate shells considering in-plane shear nonlinearity Springer- verlag 1994, Structural Optimization 8, 168-173. [7] Priyadarsini.R.S. et al., Numerical and Experimental Study of Buckling of Advanced Fiber Composite Cylinders under axial compression Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. [8] Seth S. Kessler et al.,Design, Analysis and Testing of a High-g Composite Fuselage Structure, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. [9] Ferhun C. Caner et al., Size effect on strength of laminate-foam sandwich plates: Finite element analysis with interface fracture,Elesiver, Composites: Part B 40 (2009) 337348

-209.93

1366.5

-982.57

201.52

This table shows the comparative study of various material properties that are used for manufacturing of bulkhead and the various analysis methods are carried out here to find out the conclusion that what kind of materials can be more suitable to withstand the pressure load acting inside the aircrafts frame.

7. FUTURE SCOPE
From this result, hereby we conclude that, the various materials can be used for constructing bulkhead which will be more efficient and also reduces the weight of an aircraft. Mainly we are trying to impose this concept only for the light weight aircrafts and also for sport aircrafts.