The aerospace industry demands high safety standards, making it critical to test and simulate new materials before integrating them into aircraft structures. Fiber-reinforced composites are becoming increasingly popular due to their strength-to-weight ratio, resistance to fatigue and corrosion. Highly integrated reinforced composites offer further benefits, such as weight savings and improved fuel efficiency. The use of simulation is crucial in the development of these composites, as it enables engineers to predict their performance under various loading conditions and optimize their design.
Within the scope of this project, a critically loaded component of an aircraft's thrust reverser, which is currently manufactured from metal, shall be substituted by fiber-reinforced composites. Firstly, Simulations are calibrated with experimental results by using cohesive elements. This outcome is carried over to the simulation of the newly designed component. Finally, the numerical analysis yields confident results concerning the margin of safety. Design and simulation of this benchmark prototype have been performed within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Presenter: Manuel SCHUSCHA, PRIME Aerostructures GmbH
