AUTHOR(S): 

Massimo Viscardi, Maurizio Arena, Giuseppina Barra, Liberata Guadagno

TITLE

Smart Materials For The Internal Vibro-Acoustic Performance Improvement In Turboprop Aircraft

KEYWORDS

Damping, internal noise, self-healing, smart material, turboprop

ABSTRACT

The need for internal comfort improvement is becoming an increasingly important topic for both already operating aircraft that as a target for those still in the planning stage. Among the most relevant issues of many aeronautical industrial houses and not only, actually a recent target is representing by the research and the implementation of new passive and active solutions for noise and vibrations transmitted reduction. A valuable contribution in industrial research has been given by the composite materials, which use has grown significantly in recent years thanks to new manufacturing technologies, constituting an excellent alternative to metallic materials on several application fronts. Due to these peculiarities, composite materials are used for a long time as a result of experiments aimed at solving problems in different sectors and with different needs, including lately the aeronautical field especially thanks to the saving in weight combined high fatigue and corrosion resistance. The main purpose of this research activity is in particular focused on the prospective application of self-healing laminates in primary structural parts of an aircraft: the self-repairing strategy consists in dispersing catalyst active agents as microcapsules into the epoxy resin components during their manufacturing stage. Such innovative treatments, in addition to ensuring a better static performance by reducing the external interventions in the case of a crack, allow for dissipating the vibrational energy with a high damping level compared to a standard laminate as observed by previous experimental investigations. The reduced presence of mechanical joints and rivets, replaced mostly by special bonding makes an aeronautical composite structure globally less damped than a metal alloy frame. The present paper shows how the use of these features on the outer skin of a turboprop fuselage contributes to achieve a considerable reduction of the internal noise and especially the structural vibration level generated by the propeller source.

Cite this paper

Massimo Viscardi, Maurizio Arena, Giuseppina Barra, Liberata Guadagno. (2016) Smart Materials For The Internal Vibro-Acoustic Performance Improvement In Turboprop Aircraft. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1, 131-136