Structural analysis of coreless spoiler

Abstract

The A320 spoiler has a sandwich structure with honeycomb component as its core. However, honeycomb core is vulnerable to water ingression, causing damage to the control surface due to its weak moisture resistance behaviour. The objective of this project was to conduct the design and analysis of an improved composite structure for a coreless spoiler. Weaknesses of a coreless spoiler were identified through Finite Element analysis done by using Abaqus software. In addition, topological and parametric optimizations were applied to produce an improved configuration as an alternative to the honeycomb core. Multi-spar and multi-rib designs were studied and compared for topological optimization. The variables used for evaluation were Tsai-Hill failure index and critical buckling load. The most potential design was considered for parametric optimization. Looping of parametric optimization was carried out to obtain the most satisfactory configuration. The results showed that the upper skin of the spoiler without honeycomb core failed the Tsai-Hill criteria. Furthermore, the multi-spar configuration outperformed the multi-rib configuration. The final multi-spar configuration achieved a weight reduction of 24% from original spoiler without violating the Tsai-Hill criteria and buckling constraint. As a conclusion, the weaknesses of the spoiler without honeycomb core have been identified and an improved compos.