The new rotorcraft architecture developed by the Topic Manager and which will be demonstrated under FRC IADP aims at demonstrating that the compound rotorcraft configuration implementing and combining cutting-edge technologies as from the current Clean Sky Programme opens up new mobility roles that neither conventional helicopters nor fixed wing aircraft can currently cover in a way sustainable for both the operators and the industry.
The project will ultimately substantiate the possibility to combine in an advanced rotorcraft the high cruise speed, low fuel consumption and gas emission, low community noise impact, and productivity for operators. A large scale flightworthy demonstrator embodying the new European compound rotorcraft architecture will be designed, integrated and flight tested.
Innovation target is to achieve a weight reduction of about 15% for general airframe parts (monolithic and sandwich) and particularly shell structures like side shells, tailboom, horizontal and vertical stabilizer and the wings. Some of these shell structures, like the tailboom and wings have
mainly stiffness driven designs, were materials with higher stiffness increase directly the performance. By a combination of the standard structural materials with new high performance materials in the relevant areas, a weight saving potential is obvious.
The general objective of the LightAir project is to perform a complete characterization of three new materials proposed in the call (adhesive, composite and honeycomb) as well as to account for the scatter of material properties using statistical analysis to obtain design allowables.
To achieve the main objective several partial sub-objectives were defined. These sub-objectives are listed below along with a brief description of the work done during the reporting period towards its achievement.
• Manufacturing of coupons, elements and details according to aeronautical standards.
• Determination of design allowables from mechanical and physical characterization tests of coupons and elements.
• Implementation of new experimental techniques, at industrial scale, to obtain translaminar fracture properties of the composite, and complete constitutive traction separation laws (cohesive laws) under different environmental conditions
• Analysis of sub-structural details and implementation of new instrumentation techniques to reduce the number of specimens
• Statistical analysis of design allowables, and implementation of Bootstrapping to reduce the number of samples.
