Development of GLARE~reg; Fuselage Panels Using a Building Block Approach

摘要

In collaboration with the Institute for Aerospace Research of the National Research Council of Canada (IAR/NRC), three divisions of Bombardier Aerospace (de Havilland, Canadair and Shorts) have embarked on a technology demonstration program that focuses on the design, manufacture and assembly, and subsequent testing of full-scale fuselage panels constructed based on new and innovative GLARE~® design concepts and manufacturing techniques. A building block approach has been adopted in the design, construction and certification (final goal) of GLARE~® fuselage panels. Numerous tests on coupons, built-up elements and components have been conducted at IAR/NRC. Tests conducted at the coupon level included impact, post-impact shear and fatigue, corrosion fatigue, fatigue crack growth, and fire resistance. Static and fatigue tests conducted at the built-up element level involved lap joint coupons with single rivet, lap joint panels with 3 rows of rivets, and bonded splice panels. Sub-component tests included shear-buckling tests on flat stiffened panels and torsion tests on stiffened cylinders. Bombardier Aerospace is responsible for the design, construction and testing of full-scale fuselage panels. To date four panels have been constructed. Two of the four panels were installed in Bombardier's Durability Assessment and Damage Tolerance (DADT) barrel testing facility and subjected to 120,000 cycles (3 lifetimes) of combined pressurization, bending, and torsion loads. The remaining two fuselage panels were installed in the DASH-8 Series 400 Complete Aircraft Structure Test (CAST) fixture and were tested successfully to ultimate load. In this paper, the building block methodology used in the development of the application of GLARE~® in fuselage construction and key test outcomes of the technology demonstration program are presented.