COMPOSITE WING TECHNOLOGY ON THE AV-8B ADVANCED AIRCRAFT

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) anticipates that graphite/epoxy composite material will be the primary material in the wing of production aircraft for the AV-8B Advanced V/STOL aircraft. The AV-8B wing torque box utilizes composite one-piece fullspan upper and lower monolithic skins. The substructure will incorporate composite sine wave spars and ribs. The flap, flap door, aileron, outrigger fairing, overwing fairing, and engine bay doors are also of composite construction. The forward fuselage featuring a raised canopy and composite construction is currently under research and development and is planned for production on the AV-8B. This paper describes the composite wing design, weight savings, development test program, design criteria, and the full scale certification program leading to the use of composites for production aircraft. Some of the structural design problems, tradeoffs, and load/strain criteria are described. The significance of scheduling, typical procedures governing the development of design data, and the interpretation and evaluation of full scale test results are explained.