Expanded metal weight reduction
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an ultralight aircraft design needs a critical weight reduction a trade study is performed using Solidworks Simulation
Expanded metal weight reduction
- 1. Extreme weight reduction using expanded aluminum mesh FEA analysis of a structural member 8/31/2016 Don Blanchet 3B Associates dwb3298@verizon.net
- 2. Goals Reduce the weight of a small but critical motor mount component for a light single person aircraft. Due to cost limitations a graphite fibre structure was ruled out. Trade study of original solid machined design with metal mesh design.
- 3. Location of critical component a part of the engine mount assembly
- 4. Solid plate design 6061-t6 aluminum ~ 7 x 4 x 0.5 inches Weight = 0.62 lbs
- 5. FEA mesh
- 8. Static stress = 15,750 psi Oposing 100 lb loads
- 9. Elastic twist deformation = .080 inch
- 10. Aluminum mesh core design vacuum brazed .010 thick expanded metal mesh .010 thick cover plates Brazed to mesh both sides Total Weight = 0.23 lbs
- 11. FEA mesh with covers
- 12. FEA mesh without covers
- 13. First resonant frequency = 1329 hz
- 14. Static stress = 32,330 psi
- 15. Elastic twist deformation = .150 inch
- 16. Results summary Analysis case Resonant Frequency hz Maximum Stress psi Maximum elastic Deflection inch Weight lbs Factor of Safety Yield strength = 42,000 psi Solid machined plate 920 15,750 0.080 0.62 2.7 Expanded aluminum core 1329 32,330 0.150 0.23 1.3
- 17. Conclusions There is a 63% weight savings using the vacuum brazed expanded metal core design. The stress design margin will be reduced to 30%. Very critical weight savings can be attained a at reasonable cost increase.