A new composites fuselage system called Acrosoma could reduce manufacturing costs by a whopping 90% and halve the weight of the airframe. But the Belgian consortium behind the concept hasn’t yet been able to convince an airframer to adopt it.
"Airframers are very interested in this technology, but we’re almost too far ahead of the game,” says Jan Verhaeghe of Composittrailer, one of three Belgian aerospace companies behind Acrosoma
Composittrailer is a specialist in lightweight composites structures. Its partners are Microtherm, which produces microporous insulation; and FOS&S a manufacturer of optic sensing systems. They believe Acrosoma will revolutionise airframe manufacture.
Verhaeghe says if Acrosoma were used in current-generation airframes, weight savings of 50% of would be delivered at a tenth of the cost of producing the same structure in aluminium or titanium.“What we need is an airframer, possibly in the business jet market, to really take a leap of faith and design an aircraft utilising our technology and production methods,” he says.
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The consortium claims its technology allows the manufacture of fuselage in a continuous mode with a diameter of 2.5m and a 30mm insulated skin. Weight of the product is less than 100kg per metre.
“As a result of our R&D we have managed to win contracts to work on the periphery of the A350 and A380 – but it isn’t as advanced as this.”
With the fuel crisis currently affecting the industry, Verhaeghe says the cost savings and market lead for any OEM to adopt the system will be enormous. “The benefits are many,” he enthuses. “The integration of fibreoptic sensors within certain structural elements of an airplane will enable continuous, multiplexed monitoring of the actual distribution of mechanical strain and temperature data within these structures.
“This way, the immediate alerts of abnormal load situations, such as excessive vibration and crack formation, can be obtained so remedial action can be taken,” Verhaeghe says. The tri-dimensional sandwich technology panel with the microporous insulation blanket also provides thermal management and passive fire protection to A1 standard.
Verhaege says the demonstrator also provides evidence of the tensile strength and stiffness of Acrosoma. “You can push great weight on to the product and it retains its shape and integrity. You couldn’t do such a test with aluminium.”
Source: Flight International