An aircraft stabilizer (15, 17) with an enlarged area of laminar flow. The lateral skins (45a, 45b; 65a, 65b) of its torsion box (43; 63) include joggled areas (53a, 53b; 73a, 73b) as attachment areas of its leading edge (41; 61) which are arranged in a rearward position with respect to the forward most spar of the stabilizer (15, 17).

A composite stiffener is fabricated using preforms of laminated, unidirectional composite tape. The stiffener includes a void that is reinforced by a filler wrapped with a structural adhesive. The surfaces of the preforms surrounding the void include a layer of composite fabric which is bonded to the filler by the adhesive, thereby increasing the toughness of stiffeners around the void and improving pull-off strength of the stiffener.

The present invention provides an aircraft structure comprising a first sub-structure, having a first box cross-section, a second sub-structure, having a second box cross-section, and a joint joining a first end region of the first sub-structure to second end region of the second sub-structure, wherein the joint comprises an overlap region where the end regions of the first and the second sub-structures overlap such that the first sub-structure is inside the second sub-structure. The present invention also provides an aircraft comprising such an aircraft structure and a method of manufacturing an aircraft structure.

One embodiment includes a rib structure to be used, for example, in any number of aerospace applications, the rib structure, comprising a first piece having a first curvature in a first plane; and a second piece having a second curvature in a second plane that is different from the first plane. The first piece and the second piece are bonded together to form the rib structure. In certain embodiments, the first piece further comprises a plurality of discontinuous flanges to interface with a plurality of skin surfaces. In other examples, the first piece includes an aft spar interface for bonding to a surface. In some implementations, the first piece includes a forward spar interface for bonding to a surface. Manufacturing of the airframe/aircraft parts, panels, and rib components can include any suitable composites, alloys, titanium, aluminum, artificial materials, sheet metal, etc.

A propulsion system for aircraft, in particular lightweight aircraft, provides a low-noise and low-cost aircraft. The propulsion system includes at least two ducted propellers (3, 3). The ducts of are provided laterally on the fuselage (4) of the aircraft in such a way that the common net thrust of the ducted propellers is substantially collinear to the net drag.

A structure having a panel, a stringer, and a rib is disclosed. The stringer includes a stringer flange that is joined to the panel and a stringer web that extends away from the stringer flange. The rib includes a rib web that has first and second faces and a rib foot that has a first rib foot flange that is joined to the stringer web, a second rib foot flange that is joined to the panel and a rib foot web that is joined to the first face of the rib web. The first rib foot flange is connected to the rib foot web by a first corner that includes at least one layer which runs continuously from the first rib foot flange into the rib foot web via the first corner. The second rib foot flange is connected to the rib foot web by a second corner that includes at least one layer which runs continuously from the second rib foot flange into the rib foot web via the second corner.

An aircraft panel assembly with a panel and a plurality of stiffeners on the panel is disclosed. Each stiffener has an attachment part attached to the panel and a structural part spaced apart from the panel. A rib foot beam crosses the stiffeners at a series of intersections. At each intersection the rib foot beam is located between the panel and the structural part of a respective one of the stiffeners.

There is provided a training system capable of performing work. The system has a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator exhibiting a generally planar transformational behavior. The system further has one or more heating elements for transforming the SMA actuator from an original shape to a trained shape, thereby performing work.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a part of a fuselage of an aircraft having a longitudinal axis, the part including a keel beam and a lower rear shell, each being made from composite materials of the type comprising fibers and of which a part of the fibers extends continuously between the keel beam and the lower rear shell.

There is provided a method of training a shape memory alloy (SMA) workpiece. The method includes applying a force couple to a shape memory alloy (SMA) workpiece to impart a generally planar transformational behavior to the SMA workpiece to obtain a trained shape memory alloy (SMA) workpiece.