An insight on the crashworthiness behavior of a full-scale composite fuselage section at different impact angles

In the present paper, advanced numerical methodologies have been adopted to investigate the influence of impact angle on the crashworthiness behavior of a composite fuselage section. The analyzed fuselage section, made of unidirectional fiber-reinforced material, woven fabric material, and aluminum material, is representative of a regional aircraft fuselage. Two different angles of impact with rigid ground have been investigated and reported: Perpendicularly to the ground and with a pitch angle of 3 degrees with respect to the ground. The adopted numerical models have been preliminarily validated with experimental data from a drop test on a full-scale fuselage section, in terms of deformations and failure location and progression. The correlation between the numerical model and the experimental test has enabled evaluation of the effect of the impact angle on the deformation and damage in the sub-cargo floor area.