Failure analysis of beam of unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

The high level of worthiness of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), particularly in everyday life, is something that will be common thing in close future. The design solutions for UAV us subject of constant innovation, focused on the improving structure performances and weight reducing. The use of new materials. like various composites, is necessary during this process to fulfill such demanding structural design requirements. Despite the fact that such kind of composite made UAV structures are subjected to the detailed calculation procedures and experimental verifications in the design phase, the fracture and failure can occur during testing in real operation conditions. The redesign procedure is required in order to overcome the noted issues. This paper describes failure analysis, as well as structural redesign procedure for a beam element of an unconventional UAV. The fracture analysis is based on the numerical calculations of the deformation and stress state of the element, as well as experimental investigation of material characteristics. The developed redesign solution contains modifications in material of the element, as well as the changes in the structure design of the failure zone. The Finite Element Analysis is performed and discussed for both of the element structures: original design and redesign based on the fracture analysis. The conclusions obtained by the comparison of these Finite Element Analyses show the significant structure improvements in the stress concentration zone, achieved by the proposed redesign.