DEVELOPMENT OF DAMAGE SIZING METHODOLOGY FOR COMPOSITE LANDING GEARS STRUCTURES

摘要

Composite materials are widely used in the aerospace industry but, because of their structurerncomplexity and the very high loads they have to support, there are very few composite parts inrnlanding gears.rnHéroux-Devtek, a landing gear manufacturer, has led a project with Centre technologique enrnaérospatiale and McGill University which aimed at designing, manufacturing and testing arncomposite landing gear part. The objective of the project was to demonstrate the feasibility andrnthe relevance of composite materials in highly loaded landing gears structures by comparing thisrncomposite prototype with the reference aluminum part.rnTo have a prototype representative of a production part, it was necessary to develop appropriaternsizing methodologies, especially concerning damage tolerance since current techniques are notrnsuitable for thick parts. This article presents a new methodology for damage tolerance sizing ofrncomposite parts having high thickness variations. In this methodology, first, the damagerndimensions were estimated using an analytical model coupled with FEA of the impacted part.rnThen, the material local residual strength was calculated and used in a second FEA of the part torndetermine the damaged part strength.rnThis methodology was validated by testing coupons of different thicknesses with several levels ofrnimpact energy.