TY - JOUR A2 - De Castro, Paulo M. S. T. AU - Sepe, R. AU - Citarella, R. AU - De Luca, A. AU - Armentani, E. PY - 2017 DA - 2017/07/27 TI - Numerical and Experimental Investigation on the Structural Behaviour of a Horizontal Stabilizer under Critical Aerodynamic Loading Conditions SP - 1092701 VL - 2017 AB - The aim of the proposed research activity is to investigate the mechanical behaviour of a part of aerospace horizontal stabilizer, made of composite materials and undergoing static loads. The prototype design and manufacturing phases have been carried out in the framework of this research activity. The structural components of such stabilizer are made of composite sandwich panels (HTA 5131/RTM 6) with honeycomb core (HRH-10-1/8-4.0); the sandwich skins have been made by means of Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) process. In order to assess the mechanical strength of this stabilizer, experimental tests have been performed. In particular, the most critical inflight recorded aerodynamic load has been experimentally reproduced and applied on the stabilizer. A numerical model, based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) and aimed at reducing the experimental effort, has been preliminarily developed to calibrate amplitude, direction, and distribution of an equivalent and simpler load vector to be used in the experimental test. The FEM analysis, performed by using NASTRAN code, has allowed modelling the skins of the composite sandwich plates by definition of material properties and stack orientation of each lamina, while the honeycomb core has been modelled by using an equivalent orthotropic plate. Numerical and experimental results have been compared and a good agreement has been achieved. SN - 1687-8434 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/1092701 DO - 10.1155/2017/1092701 JF - Advances in Materials Science and Engineering PB - Hindawi KW - ER -