New lightweight cockpit bulkhead
Traditional forward pressure bulkheads are comprised of a number of different parts that are assembled to make a complete structure. One-shot injection moulding of an integrally stiffened preform leads to reduced manufacturing costs. With this in mind, scientists initiated the PUMA (Puma) project. Based on the requirements set by partners at aircraft manufacturer EADS CASA, PUMA scientists unveiled two demonstrators that were produced using liquid resin injection. The main target of the demonstrators was to show an overall weight reduction of 10 %, improving functionalities of the reference metallic structure. The analysis performed during the design phase showed that strength and stiffness requirements were fulfilled by a sandwich composite structure. A Dyneema plate 1.5 mm thick on top of the sandwich was added to protect the bulkhead from bird strike damage. Without the protection plates, the demonstrators weighed 7.7 kg – well below the reference aluminium structure (9.2 kg). However, the demonstrator weight inched very close (9 kg) to that of the metal structure after adding the Dyneema plate. The first demonstrator was assembled to the first composite cockpit demonstrator of Clean Sky's Green Regional Aircraft (GRA). Locations with insufficient resin infiltration were found in the second demonstrator and hence it was agreed to produce a third one outside the context of PUMA. PUMA composite forward pressure bulkhead prototypes were designed to meet the GRA objectives of low-weight aircraft configuration.
Keywords
Lightweight, forward pressure bulkheads, bird strikes, liquid resin injection, Green Regional Aircraft
