Advancement in technology and specific safety design methodologies of carbon composite aeronautical primary structures

Abstract

The presentation considers recent advancements in technology aspects of carbon composite primary structures in aeronautics. It comprises recent developments of carbon polymer systems and modern textile preforms. Further structural weight and cost savings are expected by the development of multifunctional design concepts using concurrent engineering processes and applying innovative manufacturing techniques with high potential for automation. As examples, vacuum assisted resin infusion outside the autoclave (VARI process) and vacuum consolidation manufacturing with the thermoplastic carbon fibre/PEEK system are presented. Both processes show up ro 30 % cost savings compared to conventional prepreg technology. Multifunctional and integrated design also considers safety aspects such as fireworthiness, crashworthiness, high velocity impacts (HVI) caused by bird strike, hail stones, tyre and runway debris, and engine debris. Recent developments in safety design, qualification and certification procedures with support of numerical simulation techniques comprising new composite material damage modelling for crash and HVI will be demonstrated by examples.