Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft
The fulfilment of the crash is a demanding requirement for a Tiltrotor. Indeed, such a kind of aircraft, being a hybrid between an airplane and a helicopter, inherits the requirements mainly from helicopters (EASA CS 29) due to its hovering ability. In particular, the fuel storage system must be des...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Composites Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/5/11/285 |
| _version_ | 1797509867324309504 |
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| author | Carmen Simona Paciello Claudio Pezzella Marika Belardo Simone Magistro Francesco Di Caprio Vincenzo Musella Giuseppe Lamanna Luigi Di Palma |
| author_facet | Carmen Simona Paciello Claudio Pezzella Marika Belardo Simone Magistro Francesco Di Caprio Vincenzo Musella Giuseppe Lamanna Luigi Di Palma |
| author_sort | Carmen Simona Paciello |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The fulfilment of the crash is a demanding requirement for a Tiltrotor. Indeed, such a kind of aircraft, being a hybrid between an airplane and a helicopter, inherits the requirements mainly from helicopters (EASA CS 29) due to its hovering ability. In particular, the fuel storage system must be designed in such a manner that it is crash resistant, under prescribed airworthiness requirements, in order to avoid the fuel leakage during such an event, preventing fire and, thus, increasing the survival chances of the crew and the passengers. The present work deals with the evaluation of crashworthiness of the fuel storage system of a Tiltrotor (bladder tank), and, in particular, it aims at describing the adopted numerical approach and some specific results. Crash resistance requirements are considered from the earliest design stages, and for this reason they are mainly addressed from a numerical point of view and by simulations that treat both single components and small/medium size assemblies. The developed numerical models include all the main parts needed for simulating the structural behavior of the investigated wing section: the tank, the structural components of the wing, the fuel sub-systems (fuel lines, probes, etc.) and the fuel itself. During the crash event there are several parts inside the tanks that can come into contact with the tank structure; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate which of these parts can be a damage source for the tank itself and could generate fuel loss. The SPH approach has been adopted to discretise fuel and to estimate the interaction forces with respect to the tank structure. Experimental data were used to calibrate the fuel tank and foam material models and to define the acceleration time-history to be applied. Thanks to the optimized foam’s configuration, the amount of dissipated impact energy is remarkable, and the evaluation of tanks/fuel system stress distribution allows estimating any undesired failure due to a survivable crash event. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:23:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8de0ca671a16452eaeb813763f20c105 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-477X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:23:48Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Composites Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-8de0ca671a16452eaeb813763f20c1052023-11-22T23:51:49ZengMDPI AGJournal of Composites Science2504-477X2021-10-0151128510.3390/jcs5110285Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor AircraftCarmen Simona Paciello0Claudio Pezzella1Marika Belardo2Simone Magistro3Francesco Di Caprio4Vincenzo Musella5Giuseppe Lamanna6Luigi Di Palma7Step Sud Mare Srl-Via Ex Aeroporto c/o Consorzio Il Sole, 80038 Pomigliano d’Arco (NA), ItalyStep Sud Mare Srl-Via Ex Aeroporto c/o Consorzio Il Sole, 80038 Pomigliano d’Arco (NA), ItalyCIRA—Italian Aerospace Research Centre, Via Maiorise snc, 81043 Capua (CE), ItalyAero Sekur SpA, Via delle Valli 46, 04011 Aprilia (LT), ItalyCIRA—Italian Aerospace Research Centre, Via Maiorise snc, 81043 Capua (CE), ItalyStep Sud Mare Srl-Via Ex Aeroporto c/o Consorzio Il Sole, 80038 Pomigliano d’Arco (NA), ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa (CE), ItalyCIRA—Italian Aerospace Research Centre, Via Maiorise snc, 81043 Capua (CE), ItalyThe fulfilment of the crash is a demanding requirement for a Tiltrotor. Indeed, such a kind of aircraft, being a hybrid between an airplane and a helicopter, inherits the requirements mainly from helicopters (EASA CS 29) due to its hovering ability. In particular, the fuel storage system must be designed in such a manner that it is crash resistant, under prescribed airworthiness requirements, in order to avoid the fuel leakage during such an event, preventing fire and, thus, increasing the survival chances of the crew and the passengers. The present work deals with the evaluation of crashworthiness of the fuel storage system of a Tiltrotor (bladder tank), and, in particular, it aims at describing the adopted numerical approach and some specific results. Crash resistance requirements are considered from the earliest design stages, and for this reason they are mainly addressed from a numerical point of view and by simulations that treat both single components and small/medium size assemblies. The developed numerical models include all the main parts needed for simulating the structural behavior of the investigated wing section: the tank, the structural components of the wing, the fuel sub-systems (fuel lines, probes, etc.) and the fuel itself. During the crash event there are several parts inside the tanks that can come into contact with the tank structure; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate which of these parts can be a damage source for the tank itself and could generate fuel loss. The SPH approach has been adopted to discretise fuel and to estimate the interaction forces with respect to the tank structure. Experimental data were used to calibrate the fuel tank and foam material models and to define the acceleration time-history to be applied. Thanks to the optimized foam’s configuration, the amount of dissipated impact energy is remarkable, and the evaluation of tanks/fuel system stress distribution allows estimating any undesired failure due to a survivable crash event.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/5/11/285crashworthinesstiltrotorfuel bladdersSPHexplicit simulation |
| spellingShingle | Carmen Simona Paciello Claudio Pezzella Marika Belardo Simone Magistro Francesco Di Caprio Vincenzo Musella Giuseppe Lamanna Luigi Di Palma Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft Journal of Composites Science crashworthiness tiltrotor fuel bladders SPH explicit simulation |
| title | Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft |
| title_full | Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft |
| title_fullStr | Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft |
| title_short | Crashworthiness of a Composite Bladder Fuel Tank for a Tilt Rotor Aircraft |
| title_sort | crashworthiness of a composite bladder fuel tank for a tilt rotor aircraft |
| topic | crashworthiness tiltrotor fuel bladders SPH explicit simulation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-477X/5/11/285 |
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