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Tim P. and Bernadette B.V., (2015); The Dibner Institute for History of Science and Technology Web site. [Online]. http://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/1/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/materials/public/composites/Composites_Overview.htm. Retrieved on November 6, 2015.

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Article

Graphite-epoxy Composite Design for Aircrcaft Wing Spar Using Computational Techniques – Part I

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna – Nigeria


American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2017, Vol. 5 No. 4, 117-127
DOI: 10.12691/ajme-5-4-2
Copyright © 2017 Science and Education Publishing

Cite this paper:
AKINDAPO Jacob Olaitan, JOHNSON-ANAMEMENA Nnaemeka, GARBA Danladi King. Graphite-epoxy Composite Design for Aircrcaft Wing Spar Using Computational Techniques – Part I. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2017; 5(4):117-127. doi: 10.12691/ajme-5-4-2.

Correspondence to: AKINDAPO  Jacob Olaitan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna – Nigeria. Email: jacobakindapo@gmail.com

Abstract

This research work investigates graphite-epoxy design for light weight high performance structure of an aircraft wing spar using computational techniques. MATLAB MuPAD software was used to derive analytical models for the aircraft wing loads using symbolic computation to estimate shear and bending moment forces acting on the wings while ANSYS 14 Mechanical APDL software was used to design and analyze the modeled composite structures of the wing spar. To carry out progressive failure analyses of the various graphite-epoxy composite wing spar designs under bending moment, finite element analysis with ANSYS 14 Mechanical APDL software was employed to determine which spar design would best withstand the bending moment of 10,000Nm generated from the MATLAB MuPAD software. The investigation revealed that all the three designs of Low Modulus (LM) spar, High Modulus (HM) spar and Ultra Modulus (UM) spar failed at 16,801.8 N/m2 which is above the wing bending moment with ultra-modulus spar having the least deflection of 0.143 m because of its high stiffness property.

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