Investigation of Joining Methods of Honeycomb Composite Panels Used in Structural Elements of Aircraft Cabin Units

The design, material selection, manufacture and assembly of aircraft structural elements are critical issues in the aviation industry. This study aims to optimize the selection of joining methods of aircraft honeycomb panels by considering strength, cost, and weight parameters. Accordingly, panel type, panel thickness and joining methods were determined as input parameters, and fracture force, displacement, cost, and weight as output parameters. Tenon-mortise, double-sided bracket, single-sided bracket, and extrusion methods were investigated for L and T-type panels. Panel thicknesses were determined as 10 mm and 22 mm according to standards. Tensile test and finite element analysis were applied to the samples to examine their mechanical behavior. The weight and cost of the panels were determined by the process analysis. The obtained findings were optimized according to multi-criteria decision making and response surface analysis methods. In the optimization model, maximization of tensile strength and minimization of displacement, cost and weight was determined as the target function. At the end of the study, the optimum thickness value for both types of panels was determined as 22 mm, and the optimum joining method was tenon-mortise.