THIS PROGRAM HAS DIRECT RELEVANCE TO FUTURE NASA PROGRAMS AND INTERESTS, SPECIFICALLY, THE OBJECTIVES DESCR…

Public award description

THIS PROGRAM HAS DIRECT RELEVANCE TO FUTURE NASA PROGRAMS AND INTERESTS, SPECIFICALLY, THE OBJECTIVES DESCRIBED IN NRA SUBTOPIC A.2.4.3, MATERIALS & STRUCTURES FOR WING COMPONENTS AND NON-CIRCULAR FUSELAGE. IT FOCUSES ON A NEW STRUCTURAL CONCEPT THAT INTEGRATES SKIN, STRINGERS, AND FRAME ELEMENTS INTO A SINGLE COCURED UNITIZED PANEL ASSEMBLY. THE RESULTING STRUCTURE IS A NOVEL SOLUTION FOR ADDRESSING THE DEMANDING FUSELAGE LOADING REQUIREMENTS INHERENT IN A PRESSURIZED SHAPED VEHICLE LIKE THE HYBRID WING OR BLENDED WING BODY (BWB) CONCEPT.THE PULTRUDED ROD STITCHED EFFICIENT UNITIZED STRUCTURE (PRSEUS) DESIGN APPROACH REPRESENTS A BOLD VISION IN COMPOSITE DESIGN THEORY AND MANUFACTURING METHODS. IT IS A CONSCIOUS PROGRESSION AWAY FROM CONVENTIONAL LAMINATED AND BONDED ASSEMBLIES TOWARD LARGER ONE-PIECE COCURED PANEL DESIGNS WITH SEAMLESS TRANSITIONS AND DAMAGE-ARREST INTERFACES. THE PRSEUS STRUCTURAL CONCEPT IS AN EVOLUTION OF THE STITCHED-COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIES FIRST INTRODUCED UNDER THE NASA ADVANCED COMPOSITES TECHNOLOGY (ACT) WING PROGRAM. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT BUILDS UPON, EXTENDS, AND TAILORS THESE STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES IN ORDER TO MEET THE DEMANDING CHALLENGES INTRINSIC IN SHAPED-VEHICLE DESIGNS.THE PRIMARY THRUST OF PHASE I (BASE PERIOD) WILL BE TO QUANTIFY BY ANALYSIS THE BENEFITS OF A PRSEUS FUSELAGE CONCEPT IN THE COMPLEX LOADING ENVIRONMENT FOUND ON THE BWB. TO MINIMIZE DEVELOPMENT COSTS, AN EXISTING BOEING BWB FINITE ELEMENT MODEL (FEM) WILL BE ADAPTED FOR VEHICLE SIZING, WEIGHT STATEMENT DEVELOPMENT, AND INTERNAL LOADS GENERATION FOR THE TEST PROGRAM. THE WEIGHTS STATEMENT WILL BE USED TO ESTABLISH STRUCTURAL METRICS WHICH WILL BE USED TO QUANTITATIVELY ASSESS THE SUCCESS OF THE PRSEUS TEST PROGRAM, AS WELL AS TO APPRAISE THE COMPETITIVENESS RELATIVE TO ALTERNATE CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES. DURING PHASE II (OPTION I) MORE COMPLEX ASPECTS OF PRESSURIZED FLAT-PANEL DESIGNS WILL BE INVESTIGATED ANALYTICALLY AND TESTED. SECONDARY BENDING AFFECTS WILL BE ASSESSED USING A PRESSURE-BOX SUBCOMPONENT AND THIN-GAUGE SKIN DAMAGE-ARRESTMENT CONCERNS WITH MULTI-STRINGER TENSION SPECIMENS.