21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-5.1.1

FULL-SCALE FUSELAGE PANEL TESTS

Vercammen R. W. A, Ottens H. H.
NLR, Netherlands

Keywords: full-scale, fuselage, panel tests

In fuselage design studies there will always be the necessity to test components in a realistic way. The fuselage panel test facility at NLR offers the possibility to subject fuselage skin sections to residual strength and fatigue tests. The fatigue test loads simulate cabin pressurization in radial and axial direction and axial loads representative of fuselage bending. To verify the test methodology and the specifications of the test set-up, the performance of the test set-up is evaluated using a GLARE panel designed by Fokker Aircraft. The test results· indicate the suitability of the biaxial load introduction systems to load a panel comparable to a panel in a pressurized fuselage subjected to bending. In addition, the tests show that compared to conventional fuselages, the designed GLARE panel combines a substantial weight reduction with an excellent fatigue behaviour and sufficient static strength. Tests on fuselage panels designed by Shorts, DASA and Alenia will be used to demonstrate the technological feasibility of GLARE fuselages also with window cut-outs, to study the growth of multiple site damage in stiffened lap-joints of aluminum curved panels and to determine the effect of multiple site damage on the residual strength of such panels.

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