FUSELAGE

INTRODUCTION:
Fuselage contributes very little to lift and produces more drag; but it is an important structural component. It is the connecting member to all load producing components such as wing, horizontal tail, vertical tail, landing gear etc., and thus redistributes the load. It also serves the purpose of 'housing' or 'accommodating' practically all the equipments, accessories, and systems in addition to carrying the payload. All these contribute loads (inertia loads) on the fuselage. Because of large amount of equipment inside fuselage, it is necessary to provide sufficient number of cutouts in fuselage for access and inspection purpose. These cutout and discontinuities result in fuselage analysis being more complicated, less precise and often less efficient in design. As a common member, to which other components are attached, thereby transmitting loads, fuselage can be considered as a long hollow beam (circular or near circular or oval section). The reactions produced by the wing, tail or landing gear may be considered as the concentrated loads at the respective attachment points. The balancing reactions are provided by the inertia forces contributed by the weight of fuselage structure and the various components inside the fuselage. These reaction (inertia) forces are distributed all along the length of the fuselage (though need not be uniformly).

LOADS AND DISTRIBUTION:

As different load producing components transmit the loads to the fuselage, all cases, which are critical to the component, have to be considered for fuselage loading. A. Flight loads: All points of maneuvering and gust flight envelope have to be considered. In general the loads/ reaction produced by the external components at the attachment points may be considered as applied loads and the inertia force at each mass of fuselage structure and other contained equipment, unit etc., are the balancing equilibrium reactions. Generally the external forces are concentrated loads and inertia reactions are distributed all along the length of the fuselage. 1. Symmetrical flight (no side forces) a. Steady flight: - no acceleration (no pitching moment) Rw = Load due to Wing RT = Load on Horizontal Tail nw1, nw2 etc. = Inertia load Steady Flight Net wing reaction Rw acts at wing elastic axis (or Rw1 and Rw2 act at 2 spar attachment points). A balancing load RT will be acting on the horizontal tail. At each of the fuselage mass, inertia forces of nw1, nw2 etc., will be acting. These system of forces, produce B.M and S.F in vertical plane. There will be no lateral bending, because of symmetrical flight. b. Pitching maneuvers: Here in addition to the forces of steady flight, a pitching acceleration due to load on horizontal tail (elevator) has to be considered. The pitching moment can be balanced by a series of inertia angular moments at each mass unit in the fuselage or for simplification, we can consider, at each mass, a vertical force 'F' such that the total moment of all such forces about aircraft center of gravity will be equal to applied pitching moment.

Loading due to pitching moment (Note: Steady condition loads not shown) Mp = F1 r1 + F2 r2 + .. F1 = (Mp x W1 x r1)/Ip Where Ip = m1 x r12 = m1 (x12 + z12) T Mp Ip - Tail load (due to pitching maneuvers) - Pitching moment due to T at C.G - mass polar moment of inertia about pitch axis

Note: F is proportional to mass & distance from C.G and F changes sign fwd and aft of C.G For analysis, the loading under steady conditions must be added over angular inertia loads i.e., at each point in fuselage, loads nw (due to steady condition) and F (due to angular inertia) will be acting. 2. Asymmetrical cases a. Rolling moment: due to aileron operation - As ailerons deflect differently on the two wings i.e., producing a rolling moment, the reaction of the wing on the two sides of fuselage will be different. Effect of rolling moment on the fuselage is bending in vertical plane and torsion. MR - Rolling moment; Rwl - Left wing load; Rwr - Right wing load Loads due to Rolling Moments b. Yawing moment (Rudder loads): The effect of rudder load on fuselage is of two; Side bending - B.M, shear force Torsion - C.G of rudder is always above fuselage centre line. This case is generally critical to rear fuselage (section between wing and tail) since the balance couple is provided largely by the wing reaction. Load on Vertical tail B. Ground loads: Landing gear reactions 1. 3 point landing: The loads produced are a. Nose wheel reaction at the nose wheel att. RNW b. Main wheel reaction RMW - at the main wheel attachment points or at wing attachment points, if the main wheel is in the wing. c. Unbalanced pitching moment - small: The balancing reactions are inertia forces distributed along the fuselage, at every mass (inertia forces and angular inertia couples). 2. 2 point landing: Here only the main wheel touches the ground initially, the reaction is only at main wheel attachment. Generally, pitching moment is involved in this case. 3. Different T.O and taxiing cases: These are generally not critical to fuselage. C. Special cases: 1. Cockpit or cabin pressurization: Pressure load.

2. Engine loads: Thrust, weight, gyroscopic couple, engine mount designed to resist these loads will transmit the lads finally to fuselage structure (if engine is mounted in fuselage). 3. Floor loads: Due to passenger, cargo etc., - both flight and handling. 4. Local loads: Largely at attachment points of tail plane, fin, nose landing gear, jacks etc. It may be noted that very often, the local load may be larger than the net load transferred to the rest of the fuselage, due to the relieving effect of other concentrated load or reactions. Shear Force and Bending Moment Diagram on Fuselage

CONSTRUCTION
It is evident from the loads, the fuselage must be designed to resist bending and shear in 2 planes in addition to torsion. A hollow cylinder or shell will be an ideal solution. Fuselage may be either Fabric covered or Metal covered. Wooden covers are obsolete, plastic or FRP cover has been tried for small planes. A. Fabric covered fuselage: In this type, a separate internal structure, usually welded tubular truss is used as the main load carrying skeleton. Wooden formers (frames) are mounted on the welded truss, to provide the shape of fuselage cross section. Fabric is stretched on wooden stringers which are cleaved to wooden frames. Fabric covering enables case of maintenance and replacement and is also lighter. However, this arrangement is used only in light planes. Combination of metal and fabric covering is sometimes adopted, fabric forming rear portion. B. Metal covered fuselage: The skin or cover (plating) is the main load carrying member and runs full length from nose to tail. The major components are 1. Skin 2. Stringer, Longerons 3. Bulkheads (or frames, rings) 4. Floor 5. Cockpit enclosure 6. Brackets, fittings, reinforcements 7. Doors, windows, access panels. 1. Skin - Semi-monocoque construction: A continuous hollow cylinder or shell will resist shear and B.M. in any plane as well as torsion. Early designs of fuselage were "monocoque" (single shell or shell only) i.e., closed sheet without any stiffeners. As it is known, that flat sheet panel or even curved panels are liable to instability failure (buckling, crippling) under compression or shear (and hence poor load carrying capacity), a monocoque construction involves fairly thick skin gauges. However, if the skin (or panel) is stiffened, the effectiveness of skin (load carrying capacity) can be considerably increased i.e., thinner gauges can be used. Such shells having both longitudinal and crosswise (circumferential stiffeners are called "Semimonocoque" structures. While pure "monocoque" is not used now, "modified monocoque" (i.e., having only circumferential stiffeners) are sometimes used for tail booms with small diameter and "semi-monocoque" construction is extensively used in all fuselage construction.

Stress Distribution: It is seen, the shells (skin) resists bending and shear in vertical plane, bending and shear in lateral plane and torsion. Vertical bending produces tensile axial stresses in elements below the neutral axis and compressive axial stresses in above the neutral axis, maximum stress acting at fibers farthest from neutral axis and 0 at neutral axis. (Stress at any point is given by = (M x h/I). The shear stress distribution (for vertical shear) is varying shear stress (shear flow, if 't' is constant) with maximum at neutral axis and zero at top and bottom line of symmetry, the variation depending upon the bending material (skin and stringer) distribution. Lateral bending will produce similar stress distribution to vertical bending, but with neutral axis on the vertical line of symmetry i.e., maximum bending stress on elements farthest from vertical axis and zero stress on vertical axis. Similarly shear stress will be maximum at neutral axis and minimum at the end of horizontal axis. The torsion produces uniform shear stresses all along the shell ts = (T/2 x A x t) Effective width: It is seen in bending the portion of the skin (on one side of N.A) is in compression. Because of the thin gauges generally used in aircraft and relatively flat curvature of the panels, the compressive skin is liable to buckling failure (column instability) or crippling failure (local instability). Even though, the provision of stringers increases the effectiveness of the skin, the critical stress at which buckling or crippling occurs is still very much lower than the ultimate compressive stress or tensile stress. Hence, whenever the compressive stress due to bending exceed the 'critical stress', a part of the skin on the compressive side, is likely to be 'ineffective' i.e., that skin is no longer capable of resisting bending moment. For analysis, the buckled skin or ineffective skin is ignored and only effective skin is assumed to resist B.M. It can be seen that this assumption leads to reduction of moment of inertia of the section, which means increased stress (both tension and compression) and shift of neutral axis towards the tension side, thus resulting higher compressive maximum stress (greater height from neutral axis). In actual practice, because skin is riveted to stringer at certain spacing, the entire skin is not ineffective. Skin in the vicinity of stringer, is stiffened and can stand higher stress before crippling than the portion of skin far away, say portion in between 2 stringers. Taking the example of a flat stiffened panel, actual tests show the stress distribution maximum at the stiffeners and minimum mid way. A practical method, for analysis, will be to assume a part of skin of width 2We at each stiffener can withstand same stress as the stiffener and the rest of sheet as no stress. Width of sheet, associated with stiffener is called "Effective Width". Most commonly used empirical formula for effective width is 2We = t x 1.7 x E/ st E - Youngs Modulus of sheet material st - Maximum compressive stress at the reference stiffener. Note that effective width depends on stringer stress, indicating wider We at stringer nearer the N.A. If 2 We equal or exceed the stringer spacing (distance between 2 stringers), the panel is fully effective. Thus on the compression side, only some panels can become ineffective and that too, only if the stringer compressive stress is high. The effective width concept is also used in bulkhead analysis. A part of fuselage skin is assumed to act with bulkhead section. A typical B.M. distribution along the length of the fuselage shows very high B.M. at the middle (near the wing section) and drastic reduction towards nose and tail. This permits use of higher gauges in the middle section and lighter gauges at both ends, with splices between the skins. Practical considerations of manufacture and availability of sheets also

necessitate splices. Usually lap rivet joint (low speed aircraft) or butt joints are made for skin splice. The rivet size, pitch and number of rivets etc., are designed to resist the stress on the skin-axial stress due to bending in vertical and / or lateral plane (acting longitudinally) and shear stress due to shear in vertical plane, lateral plane or torsion (acting circumferentially). In addition to above loads, fuselage skin has to resist local loads due to systems, etc. These may be concentrated or distributed. One example of such load is stresses due to pressurization. When cockpit or passenger cabin is pressurized, the shell is subjected to normal pressure, resulting in hoop tension in the skin. In such cases, the skin and the splice have to be designed to hoop stress in addition to bending and shear stress. As the hoop stress due to pressurization is fluctuating in nature, any stress concentration, especially near some cutout reinforcement, is liable to produce fatigue failure of the skin. Some of the precautions against fatigue failure are Reduce the stress level by minimizing stress concentration and more provision of material and Provision of alternate load paths such as hoop straps of same material or better material. Clad aluminum alloy (copper or zinc) is very commonly used for fuselage skin. Steel sheet is sometimes used either to resist very high stresses or elevated temperature zones. Titanium sheet is occasionally used, largely to resist stresses at elevated temperature. The sheets have to be normally formed to the fuselage curvature, which may be varying along the length and sometimes may involve double curvature. Integrally machined stiffener panels are sometimes used, but unlike wing panels, fuse-panels are more complicated due to varying curvature and possible double curvature. 2. Stringer, Longerons: A longitudinal stiffener attached to skin is called Stringer. Special stringers, generally of a bigger cross sectional area and used to carry concentrated loads of to stiffen/ reinforce cutouts and act as edge members are sometimes called Longerons. The function of a stringer: a. As a stiffener to skin, the effectiveness of skin is increased; the compressive and shear critical stress is increased. b. Together with skin it resists B.M. by developing axial stress tension and compression on either side of N.A. Stringer spacing (distance between two stringers) is an important parameter in estimating the skin effectiveness. The stringer spacing prescribes the panel size (width) which has as important bearing on the critical crippling stress of skin {cr = KE x (t/b)2}. Smaller the spacing, smaller the panel width giving higher critical failure stress, hence more effective skin. But smaller spacing would also mean more number of stringers and hence more weight. Stringer, as load carrying member can only resist bending (vertical or lateral) together with skin, resulting in tensile stress and compressive stress on either side of N.S. As the stringers cannot resist any shear stress (direct of torsion). It may also be noted that while the shell (skin and stringers) as a whole bends, individual stringers are largely under direct axial stress, tension or compression. The stringer load is nearly given by mean stress x stringer area. The load on any stringer depends on a. area of cross-section b. distance from N.A c. number of stringer d. relative contribution of skin and stringer to moment of inertia. However the strength of a stringer in compression depends on the allowable stress

a. b.

a stringer may fail in buckling buckling stress is estimated assuming a column with simply supported ends at two adjacent frames (the ends are assumed pin ended, even though the stringer is continuous. The stringer flanges may fail in crippling local instability each flange of stringer acts as a plate in compression with appropriate edge restraints.

Buckling stress is largely a function of length and cross-section dimension (especially slenderness ratio l/) while crippling stress is decided on the width of each leg (flange), thickness and edge condition. Crippling stress data indicate that a free flange gives lowest critical stress; a flange stiffened by a crimp gives higher stress while doubly stiffened flanges series highest stress. As the effective width of the skin is assumed to have the same strength as the stringer in compression, it is obvious that the stringer spacing, cross-section area and location with respect to N.A all play very important part in determining the effectiveness of skin. Hence the sheet-stringer combination is very much interdependent. Material for stringers is normally aluminum-alloy (copper or zinc alloys); Steel is used when high strength is required or as reinforcement. Stainless steel or nimonic (Nickel alloy) stringers are sometimes used near hot zone, where the skin is also of material, which is temperature-resisting type. Extruded sections are extensively used for stringer. However, for small aircraft, formed sheet metal sections are sometimes used. Commonly used sections are L angle, Crimped angle, Bulb angles (extrusion), Z section or hat sections. The flange, which is attached to skin, is generally plain flange while crimp or bulb or other leg of the stringer, to improve the crippling stress, invariably stiffens the free flange. In order to take advantage of rapid reduction or B.M towards the nose and tail of a fuselage, it is desirable to change the cross-section of the stringer, along the length of the fuselage, heavier sections being used in the middle portion of fuselage length. Sections with smaller flange widths as well as smaller thickness are used at the ends and spliced. From economic and production considerations also, smaller length of stringers are used and spliced together. Other instances of stringer made in pieces are when no cutout is provided in the bulkhead (such as pressure bulkhead, firewall or highly stressed bulkhead). In all such cases, the stringer has to be spliced, the splice designed to transmit the axial load due to bending. The splice arrangement can be by another stringer, by straps on each flange of by separate fittings bolted together through the bulkhead. Sometimes, the skin splice and stringer splice are combined by a common butt strap, the width of strap increased (like a finger) at the stringer. Stringer is attached to skin by conventional riveting. Spot welding is sometimes used. Adhesive bonding between skin and stringer is sometimes used by some manufactures. The stringer is attached to bulkhead by a small clip or cleat when it is through and by a fitting or butt strap when terminated. 3. Bulkheads Frames -Rings: Bulkhead is the frame or closed ring used to stiffen the fuselage shell in the transverse direction. While the stringer acts as stiffener in the longitudinal direction, along the circumference the bulkhead acts in the transverse as the stiffener. The different functions of the bulkhead are Stiffens the skin in the transverse direction and thereby increases the skin effectiveness. Retains the shape of the fuselage as the frame or ring has the shape of the desired cross section and skin is wrapped round the frame. Redistributes any external loads and moments, usually concentrated, into distributed load into the shell. Special purpose like fire wall, pressure bulkhead etc.

Simple frames serving first two points (i.e., no concentrated load) are also called 'Formers'. Usually formers are lighter and smaller cross-section than bulkheads, meant to take concentrated loads. The bulkheads are located at suitable intervals along the length, the actual location of important bulkheads coinciding with the corresponding attachment of load producing components. It is normal to find a bulkhead at wing spar stations, horizontal tail attachment points, fin attachment points, nose wheel strut attachment point, engine mount attachment point etc. As the bulkheads are located only at intervals, they cannot resist BM, shear or torsion applied on the fuselage shell. However, since it is continuous along the circumference, a bulkhead resists forces and couples applied in the transverse plane (YZ plane). The design of fuselage consists of analysis of a longitudinal beam consisting of fuselage skin and stringers and analysis of a number of curved, closed beams at each bulkhead station, followed by detail design of various fittings, brackets and reinforcements. A bulkhead is analysed as a curved, closed beam but unlike a straight or open end beam, a bulkhead is closed and hence indeterminate. It is not possible to compute BM, SF distribution by conventional methods as the end conditions, as in a straight beam, does not exist. Hence usually energy methods and castigliano's theorem are used to determine the BM and SF distribution. Principle of virtual work and elastic centre are also sometimes used. Example: Consider a frame, symmetrical with two concentrated vertical loads, representing wing spar shear reaction. For the external applied load P, the shear forces between skin and bulkhead provide the equilibrium reaction forces. This shear flow q can be calculated from the available bending material - skin and stringer - of the shell (q= VQ/L). Theoretically q is maximum at N.A. and decreasing gradually on either side, giving zero at top and bottom L. It is usually assumed a series of uniform flows between stringers, with step at each stringer. Because of symmetry of the frame, one half is considered in equilibrium with end forces and moments Mo, So and Ro at the cut end. Moment at any section is given by, between a and b M = Mo + Mq + MR + MS and between b and c, M = Mo + Mq + MR + MS + MP Mq = moment at section due to q (Shear) MR = moment due to Ro (Horizontal direction) MS = moment due to So (Vertical shear) MP = moment due to P (Applied load) M2 ds dU = ------------2EI Total strain energy The strain energy U= M2 . 2EI + M2 . 2EI neglecting str energy due to shear & axial stress.

From Castiglianos theorem, U / MO = 0, U / RO = 0, U / SO = 0 From the above three equations, involving unknown MO, RO and SO can be solved. With values of MO, RO and SO known, B.M at any section can be determined. Similarly, by summation, shear force and axial load at any section can be computed. A typical distribution of B.M. is shown in figure below.

The design of the bulkhead consists of choosing a section to resist the BM, SF and axial force at every section. Commonly used sections are C (channel) or I or double channel and any combination. As the B.M. is varying, and changes sign also, for an efficient design, the moment of inertia I must also change suitably, this can be easily achieved by Varying the depth of the bulkhead along the circumference By increasing the flange material Normally both are employed. Bulkheads are usually made in pieces and spliced to make one full ring. Each piece may be sheet metal pressed section (channel) or built up section with sheet metal web and formed angles (sheet metal or extrusion) or forged or machined channel or I section or welded channel or I section. The materials used are aluminum alloy, steel or titanium or any combination. The choice of material and configuration is largely determined from consideration of design (load and stress) space available (depth) and fabrication facility (material, machine, time, labour etc.) Ideal location for splice of a bulkhead is in the vicinity of zero B.M. In such case the splice need be designed only for SF and axial load and usually a web splice (butt plate) is sufficient. However, if a different B.M. distribution results under other loading conditions, the splice must be designed for the maximum B.M. and S.F and axial force at the section. Similarly from practical and production considerations, splice at low B.M. may not always be practicable. Another common feature of most bulkheads is provision of cutouts for stringer. Unless the bulkhead is very highly stressed or for some functional considerations (like pressure bulkhead, firewall etc.) most of the stringers run through the bulkhead and a suitable cutout is made in the bulkhead at every stringer, resulting in loss of flange (on skin side) and part of web. As a part of skin (effective width) is assumed to act with the bulkhead, usually no reinforcement or very little extra reinforcement is needed to provide the desired bending material. Sometimes, to avoid stringers cutout and thereby weakening of the frame, the frame is positioned below the stringer and the skin attachment is made by suitable cleat angles, only in between stringers. This method, while simplifies fabrication and assembly, is inefficient in use of available material. a. Pressure Bulkhead: The closing wall or member of a pressurized cabin or cockpit is called Pressure Bulkhead. This bulkhead has to resist normal pressure due to pressure differential in addition to any load along the circumference. Generally sheet stiffened in both directions is used with an outer ring attached to fuselage skin. Pressure bulkhead must be structurally capable of resisting normal pressure loads and functionally must be air tight to maintain pressure differential in the cabin. It is necessary to seal all joints and cutouts for systems on the panel as well as skin attachment. b. Fire wall or Fire proof Bulkhead: This is used to isolate fire zone from the rest of the airplane. Fire zones are specified in the design requirement. Engines, especially combustion zones are normally treated as fire zones. In a single piston engine aircraft, firewall is placed behind the engine and forward of cockpit. In fuselage-mounted jet engine, firewall is located in front of compressor and sometimes one more behind the combustion chamber. The firewall material must be fire proof or fire resistant and must not allow flames or hot gases to escape from fire zone. Commonly used materials are thin stainless sheet or steel sheet suitably stiffened. Sometimes additional fire resistant material like asbestos fabric is added to firewall. c. Inclined Bulkhead:

Sometimes bulkheads are installed inclined (at an angle to vertical plane) to suit direct load transfer. Examples: Fin attachment bulkheads are generally inclined to suit the front and rear spars of fin. The rear pressure bulkhead aft of cockpit in a fighter or trainer is sometimes inclined to suit the ejection seat whose back is sloping about 25 aft. d. Separation Bulkhead: In case of single jet engine aircraft, as the engine is mounted inside rear fuselage, it is convenient to design the fuselage detachable near the engine for easy maintenance. In some cargo planes, the nose cone or tail portion is made detachable or semi detachable for easy ground operation and maintenance. In all such cases, the joint in fuselage should involve minimum amount of disconnection, usually 6-8 bolt connections. Separation bulkhead acts as end stiffener for each shell at the separation station and also houses the fittings for the joint. The skin, in this region is also stiffened to facilitate the transfer of the distributed bending and shear stresses into few concentrated loads. 4. Floor: Structure to support passenger cabin and cargo and cockpit crew is called Floor. The design cases for floor are Inertia loads due to weight of passengers, crew, seats etc. Handling loads on ground, mainly loading and unloading. In passenger and cargo compartment floors, possible uneven distribution (bunching) of passengers or cargo is to be considered. Loading intensity (kg/m2) is normally specified. Floor consists of stiffened sheet (panel) suitably supported on crosswire and / or longitudinal beams, the loads ultimately being transferred to bulkheads and shell. In pressurized aircraft, the floor must also be airtight and is subjected to pressure load in addition to inertia load. Honeycomb sandwich panels of constant thickness are frequently used for floor panels. Standard panels of aluminum top sheets with aluminum foil core are usually available with provision for anchoring rails for seat or cargo lashing. 5. Cockpit Enclosures: Portion of fuselage in front, sides and above the flying crew (pilot and copilot or instructor and student for trainer) is called cockpit enclosure. The front panel called Wind Shield or Wind Screen is transparent and is used for direct observation in T.O. and landing. In military and trainer aircraft, the top and side panels, called Canopy or Hood (sometimes canopy hood) are also made transparent. In other aircraft, the top is covered with metal and side is transparent and is made as an extension to wind screen. The canopy generally provides access to cockpit and therefore is made detachable. The canopy may slide backwards, swing or rotate upwards with rear hinge (clam shell canopy) or open sideways with hinge on one side or may have doors on the sides. Canopy enclosure is subjected to aerodynamic forces (suction) on the outer surface and pressurised forces, in the inside. As both these forces are acting outwards and are additive, normally the two forces are taken together for design. Most of the wind screens must have the functional requirement of very good optical property (transparency) and operational requirement of being shatter proof against bullet hit or bird impact. Use of plate glass or flat or nearly flat acrylic plastic sheets obtain a good transparency. Thick glass or acrylic with sharp curvature produces visual distortion and hence is not acceptable. When a bullet or bird hits the windscreen with ordinary glass, the impact energy can cause the object and the glass pieces (on inner surface) to fly against the pilot and can incapacitate him. On shatter proof glass (bullet proof glass) the energy of impact is absorbed to a large extent and even when the glass is damaged, affecting vision, flying of sharp pieces is prevented. Most popular method of energy absorption is providing one or two transparent plastic vinyl interlayer in between two glass laminates and anchored

at the edges. The impact and the damaged outer laminates stretches the inter layer which absorbs the energy as it deforms as a membrane. Some windscreens are provided with very fine gold filament embedded in glass laminates. When heated electrically, they provide deicing / demisting of windscreen. Another method of deicing is to supply hot air from air-conditioning system to hot air gap provided between laminates. Canopy is made of formed acrylic sheets, either wholly or partly. Though the optical properties of acrylic are very good, its mechanical strength is very poor. Its UTS is low (700 kg/cm2) and its strength deteriorates with time and strain. Hence in design practice a large factor of safety (8-10) is normally allowed. Acrylic sheets are also prone to stress crazing development of hairline cracks which may seriously affect the strength and safety of the canopy. Stress crazing usually develops in service and periodical inspection and lifting (replacement) are normally adopted. Stretched acrylic sheets is claimed to minimize stress crazing. Acrylic sheets normally require some different material as edge members, as drilling holes and bolted attachment in acrylic sheet is not desirable. Usually glass cloth/ nylon plastic laminates are glued to the acrylic and bolt attachment to the metal frame is made through the edge member. Acrylic material, being thermoplastic, can be easily formed to the desired curvature. In case of military aircraft, in emergency, escape of ejection seat and pilot, through the canopy is possible, provided the thickness of sheet is not excessive. The opening in the hood, prior to ejection is achieved either by the knife like prongs installed on the top of ejection seat or by miniature detonating cords mounted on the sheet along the desired cutting lines. 6. Doors and Windows (Covers): Fuselage structure needs quite a large number of doors windows or covers, which implies cutouts in the skin of fuselage. These cutouts result in loss of material in bending and shear and uneven distribution of stress in the vicinity of cutout. To compensate these, reinforcements are provided around the cutout and to some areas beyond. The reinforcements are in the form of doublers skins, stiffeners or both. Uneven stress distribution can result in stress concentration which coupled with fluctuating stress can contribute to fatigue failure. Large covers and doors are required to be stiff to retain shape and hence have to be suitably stiffened. Honeycomb sandwich construction is sometimes used to provide sufficient stiffness. -oOo-

ANNEXURE Canopy Materials

During in-service conditions, the deficiencies of as-cast acrylic sheet to spec. DTD 5544 / DTD 5592 as to susceptibility to crazing became apparent. Failures of acrylic enclosures in flight became more frequent. It was discovered that acrylic canopies that had undergone a large amount of stretching in their manufacture had superior resistance to fracture compared with canopies of similar thickness in which less stretching had taken place. The properties of stretched sheet would obviously depend upon percentage of stretch. Optimum qualities have been obtained with 70% stretch. An important property of aircraft glazing material is its craze resistance. As-cast acrylic has high craze resistance compared with many other rigid plastics and this was one of the reasons why it was chosen for aircraft glazing in the first place. Crazing is the occurrence of minute but visible cracks which develop on the surface of the material when it is subjected, below its glass rubber transition temperature, to a certain stress alone or somewhat lower stress in combination with solvent. Apart from the deleterious effect on the optical property, the minute cracks act as notches and considerably reduce the strength of the material. Biaxial stretching increases the craze resistance, which has been proved by testing cantilever specimen painted with an organic solvent. Tensile properties: The elongation at break and energy to break will be maximum at peak stress. There is no change in the Youngs Modulus as a result of stretching. Brittle flexural strength: Material, which fractures before the stress has reached the maximum point in the yield point, is said to fracture in a brittle manner while the material, which fractures after the yield point is said to fracture in a ductile manner. Un stretched sheet fractures in a brittle manner while stretched material fractures in a ductile manner. Crack propagation resistance: The crack propagation resistance is the energy required to propagate unit area of crack, which had already started. It is a measure of toughness, stretching the material increases the crack propagation resistance. A high value of crack propagation resistance means that the pilot is able to reduce the altitude of the aircraft to a safe level which would prevent any disaster should the flaw extend to dangerous dimensions. Impact strength: Impact strength is another property of aircraft glazing material, which is important. In the early stages of climbing, there is a danger of impact with a flying bird and failures of a window as a result of such an impact will put an aircraft out of action. Apart from the loss of flying time and cost of damage, the annoyance to the crew/ passengers may cause loss of prestige to the aircraft manufacturers. The impact strength increases with percentage of stretch. Not only is the impact strength increased as a result of stretching but also nature of fracture changes. Stretched sheet tends to delaminate on fracture. This behavior demonstrates the mica like structure of the stretched acrylic.

Thermal relaxation: The rate of thermal relaxation of stretched acrylic is dependent on thickness of the specimen. The probable reason for this is that he molecules in the surface of the specimen are acted upon by less force than the molecules in the bulk material and are thus able to relax faster. The relaxation of stretched acrylic is more profound due to effect of water. The stretched acrylics are poor in laminar tensile and shear strength. Shear strength of stretched acrylic sheet normal to the surface is equivalent to that of as cast although parallel to the surface the shear strength is much lower. This should be considered when designing edge attachments. A minimum of 3000 lbs/sq is quoted in MIL-Specification. The prime advantage of stretched acrylic cover, as cast acrylic is improved notch sensitivity, toughness and resistance to crazing. In practical terms this permits a window to be edge machined and drilled allowing for clamping or bolting attachments and eliminates crazing phenomenon, which seriously impairs strength and life of simple Perspex parts. Climate condition in India is particularly unfavorable to crazing. Economics of stretched acrylic for Aircraft glazing: The process of stretching increases the cost of acrylic sheet by a factor of about 3 on the cost of unstretched acrylic of the same thickness. This probably seems large but it must be realized that advantages of improved mechanical properties allows weight reduction of 25% or more due to increased design stress, lesser replacement and hence less loss of flying hours. Future trends: Since the stretched acrylic material has low abrasion resistance and cannot be exposed to higher temperature range during service, its use becomes limited as the speed of aircraft increases. The material is best suited up to temperature range of 100 C beyond which material reverts to as-cast condition. Many alternative materials have been developed which withstand higher temperature range, thermal shock and impact resistance. Of these new materials polycarbonate may be selected as next best to stretched acrylic and it has several key properties that make it attractive to the aircraft designer, particularly because of its impact resistance, good strength at elevated temperature and formability to get deep compound contour; but its weakness are poor optical quality, poor resistance to chemical attack, poor abrasion resistance and surface deterioration due to out door weathering. Polycarbonate is a true thermoplastic and unlike stretched acrylic does not undergo molecular re-orientation when heated to its softening point. The ultimate tensile strength and modulus of elasticity are better at elevated temperature. Polycarbonate is inferior to acrylic in respect of tensile strength at room temperature but surpasses stretched acrylic above 66 C making it more suitable for high-speed aircraft. Comparison of elongation at failure in tension of two materials, polycarbonate reveals that the ultimate elongation is rarely six times that of stretched acrylic a room temperature. Tension creep at room temperature is similar to that of stretched acrylic. However, at elevated temperature polycarbonate offers considerably more resistance to tensile creep, stretched acrylic creep is 45% after 700 hours at 2400 psi stressing at 91 C as compared to 4.3% for polycarbonate stressed to 2785 psi at 100 C. This is a major consideration in the design of large bubble canopies for fast and pressureised aircraft.

Some of the properties of polycarbonate: Toughness: Extremely high impact strength is the most important feature. No other structural transparency material can match with polycarbonate. 1. Bird Impact: Bird impact testing is considered to be one of the best ways to compare windshield materials, since it simulates a potential aircraft flight situation. The ultimate elongation of extruded polycarbonate is several times that of stretched acrylic at room temperature. This permits polycarbonate windshield to deform considerably under impact, thus absorbing much more energy than equivalent windshields of other materials. Chemical and abrasion resistance: Polycarbonate has poor resistance to chemical attack. It is this poor chemical resistance that renders polycarbonate unsuitable for use in laminating with plasticised polyvinyl butyral without protection of suitable barrier film. It has relatively soft surface, which makes it susceptible to damage by abrasion. Surface haze is thereby increased which may reduce visibility especially at night. Temperature effects: Polycarbonate is generally more resistant to the effects of temperature than other transparent plastics. Polycarbonates general susceptibility to solvent attack is more pronounced at elevated temperature and / or when the material is stressed. Use of hard coat will reduce, but may not eliminate the hazard. Another significant thermal characteristics of polycarbonate are its propensity to bubble when exposed to temperature above 157 C due to its absorbed water. Considerable time is required to form bubbles at this temperature; but just a few minutes at 177 C may produce large gas pockets in un-dried parts. Prior to any processing requiring high temperature exposure, the sheets must be dried thoroughly at 121 C to 127 C. Re-absorption of moisture will occur within a relatively short time at normal ambient conditions. To extend its temperature limits in service, relatively thick outer coverings are also being applied to polycarbonate. Another way to reduce the outer surface temperature of polycarbonate is to add thin facing of glass or as cast acrylic coupled to the structural ply with a high temperature resistant inter layer which is silicone base elastomer. Weather resistance: Appearance and optical characteristics of unprotected polycarbonate degrade substantially with long-term exposure to natural weathering, since weathering does not cause a corresponding loss in tensile strength, ultimate elongation or impact strength, the effects have apparently been confirmed primarily to the surface. 5. 4. 3. 2.