Project Management Considerations: Design Architectures for Civil and Military Aircraft

Abstract

Abstract The historical evolution of the use of composite materials in actual aerospace vehicles is presented. The work emphasizes the application of composite structures in moderately to heavily loaded aerospace vehicles. Applications of composite materials are reviewed for large commercial transport aircraft, general aviation, and military aircraft. Currently, a large variety of composite components are used in aircraft. An overview of the state of the art of advanced technologies and architectures is presented. While significant improvements have occurred to structural analysis methodologies over the last two decades, the current structural design and analysis methodologies used by the aeronautics industry are still largely semiempirical. Very accurate finite element methods and sophisticated computer codes are used routinely to calculate the stress, strain, and displacement fields in complex structural geometries. State of the art of composites material simulation is presented. An overview of certification of integrated/combined composite‐metallic primary airframe structure is presented. The work is concluded with an evaluation of the future technology challenges associated with applications of composite materials to the primary and secondary structures of commercial aircraft.