Recently, natural fibre composites are widely used in aerospace industries due to their good specific mechanical properties, better acoustic properties, light weight, readily availability, biodegradability, recyclability, etc. In this study, the hemp fibre woven fabrics / polypropylene based honeycomb sandwich structure were proposed for aerospace applications. Firstly, the hemp fibre woven fabrics based honeycomb sandwich structures were manufactured and experimental mechanical tests (compressive and flexural) were performed in the laboratory. Numerical simulation was also performed and analysed to validate the proposed methodology. Different complex shaped aircraft part CAD models were created and numerical analysis was carried out in order to have a better understanding about the complex honeycomb sandwich structures.

An alternative to the multilayered preforming is to use structures reinforced through-the-thickness in order to manufacture thicker and more complex pieces. Stitching technology is developed to bind dry reinforcements together or to strengthen composites in thickness performance by inserting structural yarns. Tufting process represents the simplest one-sided sewing technology and it is specifically designed for dry preform/liquid composite molding process route. Currently, the tufting technology is getting more and more interest due to its simplest and efficient process where it involves the insertion of binder threads via a single needle through the fabric. This technique of reinforcement through-the-thickness requires only one access to the preform which makes it suitable for three-dimensional structures and complex shaped textile composites. This paper aims to improve the understanding of the mechanical performance of tufted structures. An experimental study was developed, which included tensile and bending behaviours of tufted and un-tufted preforms, in order to evaluate the effect of tufting on the mechanical performance of dry preforms. The influence of the process parameters (tufting density, loop length, tufting yarns${\ldots}$) on the mechanical performance ofthe final structure is also highlighted.

High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft are capable of providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities over vast geographic areas when equipped with advanced sensor packages. As their use becomes more widespread, the demand for additional range, endurance and payload capability will increase and designers are exploring non-conventional configurations to meet the increasing demands. One such configuration is the joined-wing concept. A joined-wing aircraft is one that typically connects a front and aft wings in a diamond shaped planform. One such example is the Boeing SensorCraft configuration. While the joined-wing configuration offers potential benefits regarding aerodynamic efficiency, structural weight, and sensing capabilities, structural design requires careful consideration of elastic buckling resulting from the aft wing supporting, in compression, part of the forward wing structural loading. It has been shown already that this is a nonlinear phenomenon, involving geometric nonlinearities and follower forces that tend to flatten the entire configuration, leading to structural overload due to the loss of the aft wing's ability to support the forward wing load. Severe gusts are likely to be the critical design condition, with flight control system interaction in the form of Gust Load Alleviation (GLA) playing a key role in minimizing the structural loads. The University of Victoria Center for Aerospace Research (UVic-CfAR) has built a 3-meter span scaled and flexible wing UAV based on the Boeing SensorCraft design. The goal is to validate the nonlinear structural behavior in flight. The main objective of this research work is to perform Ground Vibration Tests (GVT) to characterize the dynamic properties of the scaled flight vehicle. Results from the experimental tests are used to characterize the modal dynamics of the aircraft, and to validate the numerical models. The GVT results are an important step towards a safe flight test program.

As the industrial desire for a step change in productivity within the manufacture of composite structures increases, so does the interest in Through-Thickness Reinforcement technologies. As manufacturers look to increase the production rate, whilst reducing cost, Through-Thickness Reinforcement technologies represent valid methods to reinforce structural joints, as well as providing a potential alternative to mechanical fastening and bolting. The use of tufting promises to resolve the typically low delamination resistance, which is necessary when it comes to creating intersections within complex composite structures. Emerging methods include the use of 3D woven connectors, and orthogonally intersecting fibre packs, with the components secured by the selective insertion of microfasteners in the form of tufts. Intersections of this type are prevalent in aeronautical applications, as a typical connection to be found in aircraft wing structures, and their intersections with the composite skin and other structural elements. The common practice is to create back-to-back composite "L's", or to utilise a machined metallic connector, mechanically fastened to the remainder of the structure. 3D woven connectors and selective Through-Thickness Reinforcement promise to increase the ultimate load that the structure can bear, whilst reducing manufacturing complexity, increasing the load carrying capability and facilitating the automated production of parts of the composite structure. This paper provides an overview of the currently available methods for creating intersections within composite structures and compares them to alternatives involving the use of 3D woven connectors, and the application of selective Through-Thickness Reinforcement for enhanced damage tolerance. The use of tufts is investigated, and their effect on the load carrying ability of the structure is examined. The results of mechanical tests are presented for each of the methods described, and their failure characteristics examined.

The production of nonwoven fabrics from natural fibers is already expanding at an industrial level for simple curvature semi-structural part in the automotive industry. To develop their use for technical applications, this paper provides an experimental study of the mechanical behavior of flax-fiber nonwoven preforms. A comparison between different sets of carded needle-punched nonwoven has been used to study the influence of manufacturing parameters such as fibers' directions, the area and the needle punching densities. We have found that the anisotropy observed between both directions can be reduced depending on these parameters. Furthermore, this work investigates the possibility to form double curvature parts such as a hemisphere as well as a more complex shape such as a square box which possesses four triple curvature points. We propose a forming process adapted to the features of the nonwoven structure. The purpose is to determine their behavior under high stress during various forming settings. The preforming tests allowed us to observe in real time the manufacturing defects as well as the high deformability potential of flax nonwoven.

This work presents a practical detailed finite element (FE) approach for the three-dimensional (3D) free-vibration analysis of actual aircraft and spacecraft-type lightweight and thin honeycomb sandwich panels. It consists of calling successively in $MATLAB^{(R)}$, via a developed user-friendly GUI, a detailed 3D meshing tool, a macrocommands language translator and a commercial FE solver($ABAQUS^{(R)}$ or $ANSYS^{(R)}$). In contrary to the common practice of meshing finely the faces and core cells, the proposed meshing tool represents each wall of the actual hexagonal core cells as a single two-dimensional (2D) 4 nodes quadrangularshell element or two 3 nodes triangular ones, while the faces meshes are obtained simply using the nodes at the core-faces interfaces. Moreover, as the same 2D FE interpolation type is used for meshing the core and faces, this leads to an automatic handling of their required FE compatibility relations. This proposed approach is applied to a sample made of very thin glass fiber reinforced polymer woven composite faces and a thin aluminum alloy hexagonal honeycomb core. The unknown or incomplete geometric and materials properties are first collected through direct measurements, reverse engineering techniques and experimental-FE modal analysis-based inverse identification. Then, the free-vibrations of the actual honeycomb sandwich panel are analyzed experimentally under different boundary conditions and numerically using different mesh basic cell shapes. It is found that this approach is accurate for the first few modes used for pre-design purpose.