J. Cabrejas, D. Inesta, J.I. Armijo

The C-295 is the latest development in the EADS MTAD (Military Transport Aircraft Division) light military transport aircraft family. It retains the basic characteristics of the previous CN-235 model, but has been improved with more payload (9 tons) and range, and a new power plant. The length of the cargo cabin has been increased by 3 meters, to 12.70 m. The aircraft can carry up to 71 troops, five 88"xl08" standard pallets or up to 24 stretchers for medical evacuation. It has excellent low level flying characteristics for tactical penetration; maximum cruise speed is 260 kt (480 km/h) and it can be operated in semi-prepared runways. It is a versatile, sturdy aircraft capable of undertaking a variety of missions; tactical and logistical transport, transport and launching of troops and cargo, medical evacuation, maritime patrol, humanitarian and peacekeeping missions. The certification process under FAR/JAR 25 has required a Full Scale Fatigue Test of the larger and higher pressurized conventional aluminum fuselage structure. Flight and ground loads have been simulated during 80000 typical flights starting in November 1998 and finishing in January 2004. The residual strength phase has been finished in July 2004. The test has been performed in EADS CASA MTAD test facilities in Madrid-Getafe. The test set up has 32 actuators simulating flight/ground maneuvers and vertical/lateral gusts. The cabin differential pressure of 5.6 psi (386 hPa) is introduced through some of the fuselage windows. The fatigue spectrum is applied in a flight-by-flight and cycle-by-cycle mode, simulating randomly the load cycles of the typical flights in order to reproduce the way real loads appear in operation. More than 600 strain gauge channels have been used to record the real stresses and support modelization. Many visual and eddy current inspections have been performed at regular intervals in order to detect cracks and define the crack growth rates. The test sequence has included: ) Crack initiation phase. ) Crack growth of artificially induced and naturally generated cracks. ) Residual strength at limit load with critical damages. ) Tear down [nspection.

23rd ICAF Symposium of the international Committee on Aeronautical Fatique, 2005, Hamburg

Conference Poster

englisch

A5, 11 Seiten

DGLR-Bericht, 2005, 2005-03, 23rd ICAF Symposium of the international Committee on Aeronautical Fatique - Proceedings; S.657-667; 2005; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn

NA

inspections, damage tolerance, c295 aircraft

Bestellbar

2005