DESIGN, DAMAGE TOLERANCE AND FILAMENT-WOUND ATTACH FITTING FOR LAUNCHVEHICLE

Lattice structures that are made of carbon fiber reinforced plastics h ave been used for inter-stage structures in launch vehicles because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. The purpose of this research is to investigate the failure behavior of filament wound conical shells t o demonstrate that these structures can be fabricated and formed preci sely and economically. For the failure modes, the general buckling as a shell and excessive stress are considered. Various types of lattice shells under axial compressive loads are presented and the optimal con straint with the highest failure load is found. The main emphasis is p laced on the effects of geometrical configuration of the structure and the manufacturing process. The main geometrical configuration effects are the winding pattern, and the inertial properties of the member's cross sections. New manufacturing filament winding process is introduc ed and the effects of this process are discussed.