787 wing-section prototype aligns easily; now it's ready to be broken

Seattle Times ^ | July 17, 2006 | Dominic Gates

[phantomworker]

Boeing has completed a large prototype 787 wing section, and now engineers will try to destroy it.

On the first day of the Farnborough Air Show outside London, Boeing released details and photos of the 50-foot-long section — the longest piece of the new jet's structure yet built and the first largely plastic wing for a jet airliner.

Boeing's message at the year's premier aviation showcase: The 787 will soon be a reality, not just a computer-generated image.

In a pre-show briefing to Seattle journalists, 787 program chief Mike Bair fairly gushed about the way the wing's structural components had come together perfectly inside its Seattle research center — without any need for mechanics to improvise little bits of gap filler or shims.

"This big center wing box, with determinate assembly — meaning you pre-drill all the holes before you put the structure together — all the holes lined up," Bair said. "There's not a single shim in the whole thing. It's just gorgeous stuff."

But this wing will never fly. Boeing is set to begin structural testing next month. The piece will be tested to destruction, bent until it breaks.

Bair said the purpose of the full-scale test piece is not to help design the wing — that's largely done — but to confirm the previous computer analysis and ensure the structure performs as predicted.

Boeing will also use the test wing to prove the repair methods developed for the plastic materials used in its building.

Later in the 787 certification process, sometime next year, Boeing will conduct structural tests on a full-scale, complete airframe and will bend the wings on that structure to a breaking point, too. Bair said the tests on this wing piece will minimize the chance of surprises during that test.

[phantomworker]

"There's not a single shim in the whole thing. It's just gorgeous stuff."

[Zuben Elgenubi]

IBTP?

[r9etb]

I know a guy who will probably be involved in this. The testing itself is pretty finicky, and takes a long time. But he says it's fun when they get to break the wings.

FWIW, one of the big delays in the A380 came when their wing didn't meet its safety factors on the wing-breaking test. It's obviously a big deal.

[Paleo Conservative]

In the Boeing research center on East Marginal Way in Seattle,
workers prepare a prototype 787 wing section for testing
that begins next month.

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[Paleo Conservative]

I think the bottom part of the link is incorrect. Emirates is supposedly going to buy 10 747-8F not be the launch customer for the 747-8I.

[FreeManWhoCan]

What is this composite material? Is there anything out there made out of this kind of material? I am trying to understand what the stuff looks/feels like.

[Andy from Beaverton]

[coconutt2000]

Attach it to a simulator, and put a Kennedy behind the stick.

If there's one thing Kennedy's know how to do, it isn't flying, driving, or consuming mind altering substances in moderation. Which leaves us with the question, what is the one thing Kennedy's know how to do?

[DuncanWaring]

Is there anything out there made out of this kind of material?

Some bicycles and golf-club shafts, for a start.

[isthisnickcool]

Which leaves us with the question, what is the one thing Kennedy's know how to do?

Die?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

There are some composites in the wing. Various composites feel different to the touch. Some feel like rough fiberglass but most feel like dried epoxy, which is made with about the same process as epoxy. Some composites are woven like fiberglass and have the epoxy like resin added.

[B-Chan]

JASDF One?

[CertainInalienableRights]

What is this composite material

From later in the article:

"Unlike a conventional aluminum wing, this one has upper and lower skins of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic that are molded as single pieces and cured to hardness in a high-pressure oven.

The same material forms the strengthening rods inside the skins that stiffen them, and the long spars that run the length of the wing at the front and rear."



Some auto manufacturers have moved to carbon fiber composite unitized bodies (Porsche and Ferrari). Its stilla little pricey, but it is very light weight. Usually, the suspension structural parts (on the cars) are still made out of aluminum or other metals.

Often the carbon fiber is mixed with other materials. Kevlar fibers are pretty predominant.

Very interesting stuff. Surprisingly, you can duplicate some of these things at home with materials you can purchase easily. Without the design software and large-scal machinery, you can't get to the cutting edges like Boeing, et al can do, but you can get surprisingly close if you do some research. A lot of hobbiests are playing with carbon fiber and kevlar in the motorcyling, boatbuilding, hobby aircraft and hotrodding communities. Fiberglass has been in those areas since the 50s, and most of the techniques transfer easily over to composites with minor modifications.

[DelphiUser]

>>what is the one thing Kennedy's know how to do?

Well, there are lots of them, you figure it out...

[BunnySlippers]

BUMP

[COEXERJ145]

Many modern military aircraft are mostly made of composites.

[KEVLAR]

"you can duplicate some of these things at home with materials you can purchase easily."

Not any longer, the Raptor production, combined with commercial aircraft usage, adds up to a worldwide carbon fiber shortage that may last several years.

From: http://www.compositesworld.com/hpc/issues/2004/March/376/1

"Most of the fiber is going into aerospace, of course. Carbon fiber for military applications is certainly in a growth mode, with orders-up globally for new planes, helicopters, missiles and unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs). The commercial aircraft market is strengthening aswell: Airbus' A380 nears production and Boeing has committed to build up to 60 percent of the structure of its new, highly efficient 7E7 (slated to enter service in 2008) out of carbon fibercomposites. So this situation may prevail for quite some time."

[CertainInalienableRights]

I had heard about some upcoming shortages.

Nice thing about shortages is that it might help justify the investment some newer manufacturing technologies for the raw materials that will eventually bring the prices down.

I'm not actively playing with composites right now, although I did have some projects I wanted to do in the future.

[Popocatapetl]

Remember Jimmy Stewart's movie "No highway in the sky"? It's about an engineer who fights to stop an aircraft that he just knows will fail of a new and novel defect.

Very tense film.