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Tiltrotor aircraft wings having buckle zones

  • US 10,689,091 B2
  • Filed: 08/02/2017
  • Issued: 06/23/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2017
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A wing airframe for a wing of a tiltrotor aircraft, the wing including a left outboard section, a midwing section and a right outboard section, the tiltrotor aircraft including a fuselage underneath the midwing section of the wing, the wing airframe comprising:

  • a wing airframe core assembly having a bottom side; and

    a wing skin assembly disposed on the wing airframe core assembly, the wing skin assembly including a lower wing skin assembly disposed on the bottom side of the wing airframe core assembly, the lower wing skin assembly forming a plurality of access holes including a pair of first outboard access holes located outboard of the midwing section of the wing and proximate to the fuselage to form buckle zones, each of the buckle zones further comprising one of the first outboard access holes;

    wherein the pair of first outboard access holes of the lower wing skin assembly are sized such that the buckle zones have a structural failure load threshold, the buckle zones locally susceptible to buckling when an impact compression force exceeds the structural failure load threshold, thereby protecting the fuselage from being crushed by the wing;

    wherein the impact compression force is caused by the downward inertia of the wing during an impact; and

    wherein the wing skin assembly is thickened at the midwing section of the wing to enable the wing to buckle outboard of the midwing section in response to the impact.

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