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Topology optimization of a novel fuselage structure in the conceptual design phase

Dianzi Liu (Department of Engineering, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK and College of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, China)
Chuanwei Zhang (College of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, China)
Z. Wan (School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China)
Z. Du (School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China)

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

ISSN: 0002-2667

Article publication date: 8 October 2018

Issue publication date: 22 November 2018

378

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, innovative aircraft designs have been investigated by researchers to address the environmental and economic issues for the purpose of green aviation. To keep air transport competitive and safe, it is necessary to maximize design efficiencies of the aircrafts in terms of weight and cost. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the research which has led to the development of a novel lattice fuselage design of a forward-swept wing aircraft in the conceptual phase by topology optimization technique.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the fuselage structure is modelled with two different types of elements – 1D beam and 2D shell – for the validation purpose. Then, the finite element analysis coupled with topology optimization is performed to determine the structural layouts indicating the efficient distributed reinforcements. Following that, the optimal fuselage designs are obtained by comparison of the results of 1D and 2D models.

Findings

The topological results reveal the need for horizontal stiffeners to be concentrated near the upper and lower extremities of the fuselage cross section and a lattice pattern of criss-cross stiffeners should be well-placed along the sides of the fuselage and near the regions of window locations. The slight influence of windows on the optimal reinforcement layout is observed. To form clear criss-cross stiffeners, modelling the fuselage with 1D beam elements is suggested, whereas the less computational time is required for the optimization of the fuselage modelled using 2D shell elements.

Originality/value

The authors propose a novel lattice fuselage design in use of topology optimization technique as a powerful design tool. Two types of structural elements are examined to obtain the clear reinforcement detailing, which is also in agreement with the design of the DLR (German Aerospace Center) demonstrator. The optimal lattice layout of the stiffeners is distinctive to the conventional semi-monocoque fuselage design and this definitely provides valuable insights into the more efficient utilization of composite materials for novel aircraft designs.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the European Commission (Dr C. Huehne, DLR) and the Russian Government (Dr A. Shanygin, TsAGI) within the Advanced Lattice Structures for Composite Airframes (ALaSCA) research project.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Citation

Liu, D., Zhang, C., Wan, Z. and Du, Z. (2018), "Topology optimization of a novel fuselage structure in the conceptual design phase", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 90 No. 9, pp. 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-04-2017-0100

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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