Field repair of a severely damaged FG/epoxy fuselage

Abstract

The paper presents development of a repair procedure for a severely damaged primary laminate structure of a light aircraft, certified in accordance with CS22. The procedure was developed with the assumption that it would be a field repair carried out by people of average manual skills, who have not been trained in repairs of composite structures. To develop the procedure, a typical FG/epoxy laminate glider fuselage was used. The primary objective of the repair was to restore the original fuselage stiffness, while maintaining possibly low stress concentrations resulting from the repairs. To facilitate development of the repair, an FE model was developed. It was parametrized to be useful for design of similar repairs of similar structures. The experimental work done with the use of a real structure allowed the authors to verify numerical simulations, which were found to be correct.