01 - Aircraft Design and Integrated Systems
AN APPROACH TO ASSESS AIRFRAME WEIGHT REDUCTION PERFORMANCE OF STITCHED COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIES
J.A. Corman¹, D.N. Mavris¹; ¹Georgia Institute of Technology, United States
Performance of stitched, resin-infused (S/RI) composite airframe technologies is evaluated. The approach considers both direct and enabling effects of the technologies to reduce structural weight early in the conceptual phase of aircraft design. Weight reduction estimates are provided as a function of vehicle shape, structural layout, and updated structural properties from physical tests.