21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-4.1.4

THE DYNAMIC MODES AND NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF OVERHEAD STOWAGES IN TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

Sodzi P.
GKN Westland, United Kingdom

Keywords: dynamic modes, natural frequencies, overhead stowages, transport aircraft

On 8 January 1989, a British Midland Airways Boeing, 737-400 aircraft crashed on its final approach to land. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) conducted an investigation into the accident and recommended that "The certification requirements for cabin stowage bins, and other stowage items of mass, should be modified to ensure the retention of these items to fuselage structure when subjected to dynamic crash pulses substantially beyond the static load factor required." Research has revealed that· no detailed analytical investigation to provide a better understanding of the behaviour of overhead stowages in crash situations has been conducted to date. The project includes the following; 1. Simulation of tests conducted by the FAA using mathematical modelling tools to develop a methodology for estimating overhead stowage attachment dynamic pulses, 2. Simulation of overhead stowage attachment loads during the Boeing 737 accident, 3. Investigation of stowage behaviour under different crash scenarios, 4. Isolation of critical overhead stowage dynamic load cases. An F.E. Model of a Boeing 707 fuselage section has been created and is currently being validated.

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