Computational Modal Analysis of Half Scale Generic Business Jet Substructures

Abstract The primary objective of this work was to determine the modal parameters of two substructures of a half scale generic business jet model with pre-stressed skin panels. The effect that pre-stiffened skin panels has on the modal parameters of an aircraft fuselage subsection is not well documented in the literature. First, bending pre-stress on stiffened plates was empirically determined to increase stiffness without changing mode shapes. Second, preliminary finite element models of the substructures determined that the effect of skin pre-stress was significant in one of the two substructures. Finally, an updating technique to account for stiffening effects was proposed and validated to be effectively used in the substructure, improving computational results across all metrics. It is recommended that the model updating procedure developed in this work be used to model skin pre-stress for aircraft fuselage substructures. The improved accuracy of the updated computational model should be of significant interest to the aerospace industry. Future work can be performed to further develop the model updating technique introduced in this work to allow for widespread application.