J. Morgan, R. Greegor, P. Ackerman, Q. Le
Boeing, WA, USA
Carbon fiber composites are used extensively throughout the body of modern aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, because of their exceptional strength and light weight. Expanded metal foil (EMF) is added to the composite structure layup as a protective measure to dissipate the extreme heat and current generated by a lightning strike. Engineers at Boeing Research and Technology (BR&T) are using multiphysics simulation and physical measurements to ensure that protective coatings on the EMF remain intact when subjected to thermal stress arising from the ground-to-air flight cycle. The impact of the EMF design parameters on stress buildup and displacement in each layer of the composite structure layup was evaluated in COMSOL Multiphysics®. Experiments correlated well with simulation results, which confirmed that designs characterized by lower displacements also have a reduced likelihood of crack formation.
Suggested Stories
Keynote: Electrochemical Modeling for Optimized Operating Strategies and Development of Automotive Cells
In this keynote talk from COMSOL Day: Battery Design, Nikolaos Papadopoulos of Porsche discusses how he is using ...
Keynote: Democratizing In Silico Ablation R&D via Simulation Apps
In this keynote talk from COMSOL Day: MedTech, Marcela Mercado Montoya of IN SILICO STEM introduces the capabilities ...
The Sight of Sound: Revealing the Effects of Enclosure Design on Loudspeaker Performance
L-Acoustics uses acoustics simulation to optimize their bass reflex speakers for sound systems in arenas and concert ...
Highly Accurate Li-ion Battery Simulation
Battery management systems (BMSs) are designed to protect the batteries and predict their charge level. They use ...
