Design of innovative composite hybrid joints with electromagnetic compatibility

Project Information

D-JOINTS

Grant agreement ID: 887042

DOI

10.3030/887042

Project closed

EC signature date 2 April 2020

Start date 1 May 2020

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 473 541,25

EU contribution

€ 473 541,25

Coordinated by

TWI LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - D-JOINTS (Design of innovative composite hybrid joints with electromagnetic compatibility)

Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In recent years there is a strong demand for air travel as a result of customer increasing income and the need for traveling for business or leisure. This translates to 3.7 billion passengers traveling by air in 2016. Growth in aircraft traffic is expected to be 4.5% per annum and it is forecast that in the next 20 years the world jetliner fleet will grow by 20,000 aircraft to almost double its current size. Considering the number of aircraft to be retired in this period, 33,070 aircraft (100 seats and larger) will need to be delivered in the period until 2035. Currently European manufacturers (Airbus) and their supply chain account for 50% of this market share, which translates to almost the production of 1830 new airframes per year. To meet this demand the European manufacturers will have to ensure the production of 70 aircrafts per month from around 50 today.
D-JOINTS will develop a new sizing tool based on simulation of the mechanical, thermal and electrical response of multi-material components involving joints. The approach will be developed on and demonstrated on a composite nose assembly involving innovative composite-composite and composite-metal joints with enhanced lightning strike protection. The design of the composite nose part (CNP) and of the individual joints will be achieved through the sizing tool. A material properties database will provide the required material information for the design of each joint. The new joints will be integrated in a composite nose part and a demonstrator will be manufactured. The manufactured demonstrator and a reference demonstrator will be tested for lightning strike protection.
The socio economic impact related to D-JOINTS project is related to the improved competitiveness of an important manufacturing sector (transport and materials); maintenance and creation of skilled jobs; energy saving in industry; reduced reliance on imported energy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, European investment in research in composites means that the competitiveness of European organisations (both academic and commercial) to a market that grows more than 5% annually is increased, pushing the generated wealth share of Europe to higher levels.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The second reporting period of D-JOINTS project focussed on finalising activities of certain work packages and progressing substantially on the modelling of the reference and innovative joints, modelling of reference and innovative CNP demonstrator, further development of the sizing tool and planning for the manufacturing of the innovative CNP. More precisely, the main achievements were:
• WP1 has finished (all relevant data coming from C-JOINTS project have been collected, the software methodology definition has been performed as well as the reference specimens and demonstrator) D1.1 submitted
• WP2 is finishing very soon (FE Modelling of the reference joints is expected to be completed in November 2021) D2.1 has been submitted, D2.2 is under preparation and D2.3 will be submitted in the end of November 2021
• WP3 is in progress D3.1 is under preparation and the information from D2.2 and D2.3 will be used as input
• WP4 is in progress (Modelling of innovative joints is underway and the main aspects that will be considered for the innovative joints are the tufting and the metallic coating) D4.1 is expected to be submitted in November 2021 and D4.2 is also under preparation
• WP5 is in progress (the aspects related to the innovative joints and how they will be integrated in the CNP model have been identified) D5.1 is under preparation
• WP6 is in progress (First version of the sizing tool taking into consideration the mechanical performance has been developed) D6.3 successfully submitted and D6.4 is under preparation
• WP7 is in progress (The manufacturing of reference demonstrator will start at the Topic Manager’s premises and the plan for the manufacturing of the innovative demonstrator has already been developed and will soon be finalised among the consortium)
• WP8 is in progress (CU team gave a presentation during the SAMPE conference in September 2021, several press releases were prepared, a newsletter to communicate the results of the project has been issued and as soon as partners review it, the plan is to publish it online and an abstract to the ICOLSE conference has been submitted and pending for approval)

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The combination of mechanical, thermal and EM effects in a single simulation chain adapted for use in composite-composite or metal-composite joints will provide a new capability able to exploit fully the potential of innovative joint configurations in component and part design. Significant progress will be carried out as part of the activities in D-JOINTS.
The sizing tool developed in D-JOINTS will make the validated simulation development accessible within a design environment. The translation of complex simulation results into simplified metrics and the seamless integration of different joint times, parametrised appropriately, will allow the designer to explore the design space following either or intuitive approach or a structured investigation of the influence of design variables. The incorporation of a database within the sizing tool provides a seamless link between existing material and geometrical data and new information added by the user with the outputs of past or current simulation runs. This feature makes legacy information explicit within the design environment, prevents data contamination and allows efficient communication across different teams and people over time.
The two innovative joining technologies developed by TWI and Cranfield (metallic coating and tufting) will be combined with current technology to provide efficient solutions for dissipation of energy during lighting strike and improved overall performance.
The innovative joints as well as the design tool developed in D-JOINTS provide significant opportunities for improvement in lightning strike performance of joints and robustness of the overall structure.
The socio economic impact related to D-JOINTS project is related to the improved competitiveness of an important manufacturing sector (transport and materials); maintenance and creation of skilled jobs; energy saving in industry; reduced reliance on imported energy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, European investment in research in composites means that the competitiveness of European organisations (both academic and commercial) to a market that grows more than 5% annually is increased, pushing the generated wealth share of Europe to higher levels (in 2013, Europe had a 32% share of the composites market).
The main ecological impacts derive from the efficiency of the D-JOINTS tool. The sizing method alongside the novel joining technologies will allow efficient use of raw materials and reduction of redesign and reworks by 50% to 80%. This will result in significant positive ecological benefit as the raw materials for composite manufacturing are derived from energy intensive petroleum processing. The adoption of lightweight composite structures in the aeronautic industry where weight is a critical design factor will have beneficial results in reduced fuel consumption. It is estimated that for every 100kg weight saving in high performance material is equivalent to a reduction of 1.33M tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions and 400 million litres of aviation fuel across the life of a typical aircraft.

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