craig saxon
Well-Known Member
OK, so I know it's an airplane site and this article is about a car, but is this a technique that could be useful for a fuselage. The article describes the original Lotus Elite Monocoque structure where the body/chassis was constructed from three main moldings. The chassis weighed 200 lb and when tested, showed a maximum deflection at the windshield opening of 0.050 inch. I imagine that stiffness and weight could be improved somewhat using modern fabrics and manufacturing techniques. I realize that the skins would need to be thicker than those on a sandwich structure due to the buckling case, but an amphibian needs to be built heavier anyway to absorb the impacts from water operations. I also know that tooling costs would also be more expensive due to the extra molds required. This could however be offset against the time saved in internal fit out of the fuselage. Any thoughts?
Craig
Craig
