Mr. Uwe Schuster

R&D Engineer Aerospace Products

As R&D Engineer at Constellium, Mr Schuster is active in the area of R&D for FML wing structures, as well as fatigue & damage tolerance design optimization of metallic structures. Prior to joining Constellium, Mr Schuster worked as R&D Engineer at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering in Dresden, where he worked on the design optimisation of wing structures; and at Pilatus Aircraft, where he designed repair solutions for trainer aircraft.

Presentation

FML for Lower Wing Skins – Characterization, Manufacturing Trials and Preliminary Design Studies.

Fibre Metal Laminates (FML) provide excellent Fatigue Crack Growth resistance which makes this material interesting for lower wing skin structures. Existing trade studies indicate, that a metallic wing box with an FML lower wing skin may offer an excellent cost/performance -balance, particularly for high-build-rate short-range aircraft.

This paper presents recent results of the early R&D phase of this concept, including the screening of feasible FML grades, splice properties, and manufacturing demonstrations, as well as a simple preliminary structural wing design and how it compares to the monolithic reference.