Coupling of static and dynamic fuselage design

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for the evaluation of transport aircraft fuselages constructed in a semi-monocoque design.Static design and crashworthiness aspects are coupled at an early design stage in order to avoid time- and cost-intensive redesign activities in the subsequent detailed design stage: A fuselage barrel was computed statically and dynamically using finite element methods. Static analysis was conducted using a global/local approach in which the section loads of the global model were used as load introduction in the local model. Subsequently, a crash analysis was performed, and the results from both disciplines were evaluated by an optimization and a parameter variation algorithm, proving functionality of the methodology. However, in this early stage of methodology development only one exemplary static load case is considered and the fuselage design is limited to a constant section. The process chain introduced in this paper uses a parameterized approach, making this methodology applicable for each fuselage in semi-monocoque design.