STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF UAV SEMI-MONOQUE COMPOSITE WING

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis through simulation study of the structural design of a composite UAV wing. The semi-monoque structure consists of one main mono-spar, 4 major ribs, carbon tubes and a flap. The internal structures have been designed to promote better flight and structural performances. Wing loading calculations were done based on the parameters given under regulations of FAR Part 23: Airworthiness Standards. From these wing loading calculations, the value is then imported into Finite Element Method software, Abaqus for structural analysis. Composite failure criteria that are used are Tsai-Hill and Tsai-Wu. The final UAV wing design acquired a Tsai-Hill value of 0.1020 and Tsai-Wu value of 0.09851, which are both less than 1, conclusively the structures are safe to be fabricated and to be experimented with a wind tunnel for further validation. Through this study, it is found that decreasing the number of layers and changing the orientations play a significant role in the strength and overall weight of the UAV wings as desired. Keywords : Finite Element Methods; Tsai-Hill Composite Failure Theory; Tsai-Wu Composite Failure Criterion; Schrenk’s Approximation Methods