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The certification of composite airframe structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

P. R. Guyett  and
A. W. Cardrick
P. R. Guyett
Affiliation:
Airworthiness Division, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough
A. W. Cardrick
Affiliation:
Airworthiness Division, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough
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Extract

Structural integrity is a key ingredient of aircraft design. It takes its place alongside flight performance, operational effectiveness, reliability, maintainability and economy in determining, or contributing in very large measure to, the success of a project in service.

What is expected from the contractor for a new project in respect of these qualities is set down by the customer in a specification which includes reference to a set of mandatory design requirements. Thus, flight performance parameters such as speed, range and payload, are defined in the specification : there too is to be found a description of the sorties to be flown, numbers and types of manoeuvres and their severity (conventionally including the levels of normal acceleration) and the regions in which the aircraft is required to operate. Sufficient detail is given to establish, as the process of design evolves, the loading and environmental conditions to which the structure will be subjected.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 84 , Issue 834 , July 1980 , pp. 188 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1980 

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