DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL CONCEPT OF EXPLOSION-RESISTANT CARGO CONTAINER FOR NARROW-BODY AIRCRAFTS

摘要

The rise in worldwide terrorism has requiredrnmeasures be taken to harden aircrafts againstrncatastrophic in-flight failure due to concealedrnexplosives. The paper presents the developmentrnof a concept of flexible textile-based luggagerncontainer able to resist a small to mediumrnexplosion by controlled expansion andrncontainment of the expansion and absorbing thernshock waves whilst, at the same time, preventingrnhard luggage fragments from striking the mainrnstructure of the aircraft at high speed. A multilayeredrn"soft-sandwich" structure is required tornabsorb the large dynamic loads of the explosionrnand the large deformation related to the gasrnexpansion. The concept under development isrnbased on a multi-layered textile structures madernof ballistic yarns as an internal high strengthrnlayer, coupled with an external "foldable" layerrnwhich is deforming in a controlled way duringrnthe explosion, in a kind similar to air-bags inrncars. Composite elements and textile beltsrncontribute with reinforcement and containmentrnfunctions. A core layer is also considered tornprovide standoff distance between an explosiverndevice and the aircraft skin panels to reducernshockholing and blast forces.