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Composite fuselage crown panel manufacturing technologyCommercial fuselage structures contain significant challenges in attempting to save manufacturing costs with advanced composite technology. Assembly issues, material costs, and fabrication of elements with complex geometry are each expected to drive the cost of composite fuselage structures. Boeing's efforts under the NASA ACT program have pursued key technologies for low-cost, large crown panel fabrication. An intricate bond panel design and manufacturing concepts were selected based on the efforts of the Design Build Team (DBT). The manufacturing processes selected for the intricate bond design include multiple large panel fabrication with the Advanced Tow Placement (ATP) process, innovative cure tooling concepts, resin transfer molding of long fuselage frames, and utilization of low-cost material forms. The process optimization for final design/manufacturing configuration included factory simulations and hardware demonstrations. These efforts and other optimization tasks were instrumental in reducing cost by 18 percent and weight by 45 percent relative to an aluminum baseline. The qualitative and quantitative results of the manufacturing demonstrations were used to assess manufacturing risks and technology readiness.
Document ID
19950022053
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Willden, Kurtis
(Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. Seattle, WA, United States)
Metschan, S.
(Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. Seattle, WA, United States)
Grant, C.
(Hercules Aerospace Co. Magna, UT., United States)
Brown, T.
(Hercules Aerospace Co. Magna, UT., United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: FAA, Ninth DOD(NASA)FAA Conference on Fibrous Composites in Structural Design, Volume 2
Subject Category
Aircraft Design, Testing And Performance
Accession Number
95N28474
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS1-18889
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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