Proper method of modeling a composite fuselage

Altair Forum User
Altair Forum User
Altair Employee
edited October 2020 in Community Q&A

Note: Yes, I'm a newbie so bear with me.

 

In CATIA, I have surfaces to define an aircraft's fuselage's outer-mold-line (basically, its shape). I also have a couple other surfaces that define the location of bulkheads. I model this by first making the fuselage surface then by making bulkheads that are restricted in size by the fuselage such that changes to the fuselage are reflected by changes in bulkhead shape automatically. I have, however, neglected to include joints because I can't just make the joint of the bulkhead intersect with the fuselage and I certainly can't just offset the joint from the fuselage either because I need the bulkhead surface to be touching the fuselage surface to define its shape.

 

So, now I have to begin preliminary design and I plan to use Hyperworks to handle the composites design. That now leads me to several questions.

1) Can I import the fuselage and bulkhead CATProduct file with all the surfaces and use those surfaces to define the shape that a composite layup has to conform to? For example, taking the fuselage surface in the CATProduct, any composite layup would be done INSIDE that surface so the outside surface exposed to the airstream is smooth.

 

Remember, it uses entirely surfaces and no solids at this point because I just don't know the thicknesses of the fuselage and bulkhead. I want to investigate the use of simply plain ol' composite layup and a composite sandwich and that usually results in drastically different thicknesses).

 

2) Further, how do I handle the joints especially when all the fuselage and bulkheads are defined exclusively with surfaces? I suspect that in preliminary design it would be reasonable to ignore the joints and just assume a rigid connection between the fuselage and bulkhead which is in fact just what the joint is intended to do. But as a college student without a degree to my name, I just can't be certain

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Answers

  • Altair Forum User
    Altair Forum User
    Altair Employee
    edited December 2015

    Hi,

     

    1) Yes, you can import the CAT part into HyperMesh and you can carry all geometry editing you need. HyperMesh can give more control on composite data with CATIA parts. Please refer to HyperMesh help to explore more.

     

    2) My best suggestion to you is to check with your guide or mentor regarding how to model joints for Analysis :)/emoticons/default_smile.png' srcset='/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x' title=':)' width='20'>

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