IFL - Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau

Let's take a quiz on crash energy absorbers: As you may know, both aircraft and automobiles are designed for specific crash load cases to provide occupant safety through dedicated crash energy absorbing structures. Let's imagine two thin-walled cylinders of the same geometry (200 mm length, 50 mm diameter, 1.5 mm wall thickness) in an axial crushing test as seen in the video below: One is made of an aerospace aluminium alloy, the other is made of carbon fibre composite material (CF/PAEK). The failure mechanisms are completely different: plasticity vs. fragmentation. Which of the two do you think is capable of absorbing much more energy, with a specific energy absorption (SEA) capability three times higher than the other one? (P.S: If you want to learn more about this, Professor Sebastian Heimbs of the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures is offering a new lecture series entitled "Crash and Impact Dynamics of Lightweight Structures" at Technische Universität Braunschweig starting this winter semester) #crash #crashabsorber #compositecrushing #energyabsorption #dynamictesting #crashworthiness

Please check the latest press release about the new 4.7 M€ research project #reFrame about implementation of recycled carbon fibre composite materials into primary aircraft structures! We are happy that IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures with its partners at HPCFK in Stade is part of this important lighthouse project! #recycling #cfrp #compositematerials #composites #compositestructures #sustainability #carbonfibre #aircraftdesign #sustainableaviation https://lnkd.in/edQ6UhJq

A big thank you to Prof. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla and Dr. Björn Nagel and the dedicated teams at German Aerospace Center (DLR), DLR Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics and DLR-Institut für Aerodynamik und Strömungstechnik, for the excellent organization and the opportunity to participate in the DLR Design Challenge 2024. The DLR Design Challenge offers an incredible opportunity for students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a real-world context, pushing the boundaries of innovation in aviation. It not only fosters creativity and teamwork but also allows participants to engage with leading experts in the field, gaining insights and experience that will shape their future careers. We are truly grateful for this platform that empowers the next generation of aerospace engineers. Congratulations to our team from Technische Universität Braunschweig — Christian Dietrich, Gent Gutaj, Aleksandre Kobeshavidze, Mika Rasch, Lukas Thiesen and Anna Vorndran — who secured an impressive second place with their "VoltAirs-95" concept! This hybrid-electric aircraft, designed for 95 passengers with a range of 900 kilometers, impressed with its high feasibility and thoughtful technology choices. Congratulations as well to Technische Universität Berlin for their well-deserved victory! 🎉 And by the way, for team VoltAirs, the awards ceremony is not the end of the journey. They will also be presenting their innovative concept at the DLRK 2024, taking place in Hamburg from 30 September to 2 October. #DLRDesignChallenge2024 #VoltAirs95 #AerospaceEngineering #Teaching #AircraftDesign #FutureOfFlight #HybridElectricAircraft #SustainableAviation #InnovationInFlight #DLRK2024

NEW PROJECT: Last week we received the funding letter for our new project "REFRAME - Recycled Fiber Reinforcements for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering". This is a considerable 1.15 M€ project for IFL - Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau of Technische Universität Braunschweig with three new PhD job openings at our site in #Stade, the heart of composite materials research. This project will focus on the research and development of a closed #recycling and production route to increase the #sustainability of the use of #thermoplastic lightweight fiber #composite structures in future mobility applications, with IFL's contribution mostly in the field of thermoplastic welding, function integration and aircraft design. It is a joint research project of our research cluster HPCFK in Stade with our long-term partners and friends of IFW - Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Werkzeugmaschinen of Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Polymerwerkstoffe und Kunststofftechnik of Technische Universität Clausthal (TU Clausthal, Clausthal University of Technology) and also PFH Private Hochschule Göttingen, each receiving additional funding by the Multi-Fonds-Programme 2021-2027 of the state of Lower Sachsony, co-funded by the EU. Sebastian Heimbs Dr. Carsten Schmidt Leif Steuernagel Lisa Reichert Ingo Staack Prof. Dr.-Ing. Berend Denkena John Finder (image copyright: Dr. Carsten Schmidt)

🔬 Every aspect of composites at the #ECCM21 🧠 At the 21st European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM21) in Nantes, our researcher John Finder presented his last work on designing an orthopaedic shoe using a carbon spring for energy recovery. His research, conducted with his co-authors Hendrik Möllers, Dr. Carsten Schmidt and Sebastian Heimbs, is one of many practical applications for carbon composites, done on the side of HPCFK in Stade. 👟🚜 ✈ #Composite #Application #Orthopaedics #Conference #CompositeMaterials #ECCM21 #Nantes

We are very happy and proud that Airbus is visiting IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures on a regular basis in guest lectures for the benefit of the students of Technische Universität Braunschweig. This is a win-win situation: The students get first-hand insights into the challenging engineering tasks, methods and solutions in aircraft engineering, and Airbus is very close to the next generation of talented engineers. Last week we had Dr. Marcus Gojny, Senior Expert in flight physics, in our Institute to give a guest lecture about "Loads and Aeroelasticity in Aircraft Structural Design" in Professor Sebastian Heimbs' lecture series "Aircraft Structures" (picture below). This week we are happy to welcome Dr. Jasone Garay Garcia from Airbus to give a guest lecture about application of machine learning in flight physics in Dr. Daigo Maruyama's lecture series "Scientific Machine Learning". When: Tuesday, 25.06.2024, 15:30-17:30 Where: IFL, lecture room HB 35.1 If you belong to TU Braunschweig and if you are interested, come and join! #machinelearning #AI #Airbus #teaching

NEW PROJECT: The kickoff meeting of our new project HYFLIP took place this week in Hamburg! Everybody involved in aircraft structural design knows that crashworthiness for occupant safety is an important design-driving load case to meet airworthiness and certification requirements. You might also know that such expensive, detailled crash simulations on industrial level often require calculation times of one or even several days. In the collaborative project HYFLIP we want to develop new efficient AI- and data-based methods that reduce this time to a minimum, with Hamburg University of Technology focussing on the water #ditching behaviour and IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures of Technische Universität Braunschweig focussing on the #crashworthiness behaviour of fixed-wing and #eVTOL aircraft. With fuselage architectures for hydrogen storage in the focus, too, this research will also be an important enabler for the efficient development of next-generation, sustainable #LH2 aircraft generations. Our doctoral candidate Henning Dahmen is entrusted with this task, supervised by Dr. Matthias Haupt and Professor Sebastian Heimbs. We thank the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) for the funding of this fascinating 3-year #LuFo project. Animation: Heimbs, S.; Bergmann, T., DRaF Conference #Crash #Crashsimulation #MachineLearning #Abaqus #SustainableAviation #hydrogen #CS25

What a great week at IdeenExpo GmbH 2024 in Hannover! Last week, Lennart Lobitz had the honour of representing Technische Universität Braunschweig, the SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation, and IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures at #IdeenExpo2024 in Hannover. He had the opportunity to showcase a wingbox featuring the suction panel concept for a maximum extended hybrid laminar flow control (xHLFC). The design was developed during the last years of research in SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation. Many young students were amazed by the studies performed. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the exhibition and showed interest in the research conducted at our institute. #IdeenExpo2024 #IFL #SE2A #TUBS #HLFC #sustainability

✈️ Insights from ECCOMAS 2024! Ever wondered how we can improve the efficiency and reliability of hydrogen-powered aircraft? Our researcher Lasse Kreuzeberg presented his current work at the 9th European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering (ECCOMAS 2024). His research focuses on the numerical performance and stability of simulations modeling thin-walled skin heat exchangers for hydrogen-powered aircraft. In collaboration with co-authors Dr. Matthias Haupt, Daniel Hahn, Ihar Antonau and Sebastian Heimbs, and conducted within the Cluster of Excellence SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation, this research advances our understanding of numerical instabilities and convergence acceleration in thermal fluid-structure interaction simulations. This important work is paving the way for more efficient and reliable green aviation technologies. #HydrogenPoweredAircraft #GreenAviation #ECCOMAS2024 #AerospaceEngineering #SustainableTransport #NumericalStudies #Innovation #Research #ClimateChangeSolutions #CleanEnergy #FutureOfFlight

IFL @ ILA ✈️ A group of our researchers of IFL - Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau visited #ILA24 in Berlin yesterday, one of the global core events bringing together the aerospace industry, innovators and enthusiasts. In addition to admiring the many interesting expositions and talks related to a sustainable and eco-efficient future of aviation, including our own contributions, it was a wonderful day full of fruitful networking and fascinating airshows. We’ll be back in 2 years! #ILA #SE2A #Airbus #A321XLR #A380 #A400M #Eurofighter #F35 #weareIFL #teamIFL