Battle Field Damage Repair of a Helicopter Composite Frame-To-Skin Junction

12-2-3.jpg
12-2-3.jpg

Battle Field Damage Repair of a Helicopter Composite Frame-To-Skin Junction

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Author(s): Jean-Evrard Brunel; Benoit Gresle
No pages: 10
Year: 2009
Article ID: 12-2-3
Keywords: firepower and protection, repair
Format: Electronic (PDF)

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Abstract: The paper focuses on the design and testing of a frame-skin-junction (FSJ) battle-damage repair (BDR) for use on a helicopter fuselage. Two instances of the FSJ were examined: i) FSJ located at a region where the fuselage skin terminates, with compressive frame buckling being the critical failure mode, and ii) FSJ located at a continuous skin region of the fuselage, where load transfer is mainly through the fuselage skin. Test specimens representative of the two repair instances were manufactured, and ballistic firing used to incur critical damage to each. Bonded/riveted patches and riveted aluminium angles for skin and frame BDRs respectively were then applied, and structural testing used to verify the performance of the repairs in-situ. The results of the structural testing indicated that the BDR procedure could recover the strength of each specimen, whilst adhering to the BDR operational criteria of limited application time and application simplicity.