IFL - Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau

"Ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est." A long time ago, the wise Seneca said that there is no favorable wind for those who do not know which port they are heading for. Some intend it as a metaphor for clear objectives in mind, while others are more oriented toward the actual, true scope of life. Wouldn't that be the same as the "PhD journey" for every researcher? On 18 December, Valerio Mosca successfully defended his PhD thesis on multidisciplinary design optimization of wings characterized by advanced technologies like boundary layer suction. The thesis focused on the development, improvement, and integration of aerodynamic and structural analysis tools applicable to the design of the new generation of aircraft. An incredible online and in-presence crowd was interested in his presentation, including people from Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Thank you to Prof. Ali Elham, the supervisor, and the other members of the commission, Prof. Jens Friedrichs and Prof. David Rival. A warm thank you to all the people of IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures and SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation Cluster of Excellence involved, from the preparation and the set-up of the room to the celebration afterward, rich in affection and esteem. 🚀 🛫 Stay tuned if you are interested in his dissertation or where this aircraft is heading 🙂; in the meanwhile, have a nice and peaceful Christmas break. #PhD #MDO #BoundaryLayerSuction #AircraftDesign #Sustainability

A message to all our student followers at Technische Universität Braunschweig: You are cordially invited to the guest lecture "Introduction to dynamic finite element crash and impact simulation with Abaqus/Explicit" by AUDI AG as part of the lecture series "Crash and Impact Dynamics of Lightweight Structures" by Professor Sebastian Heimbs. When: Monday, 9th December 2024, 13:15-16:00 Where: IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures, Lecture room HB35.1 Language: English The lecturer is Dr. Tim Bergmann, who has worked at both Airbus and AUDI AG, developing crash absorbers and crashworthy vehicle structures using advanced numerical simulation methods. The lecture will cover all important aspects of nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis, from element types to material modelling, from contact laws to time incrementation in explicit analyses. Beyond the theory, it will also include practical parts with Abaqus/Explicit, which we will follow up with hands-on exercises in the coming weeks. #FEA #dynamicsimulation #crashsimulation #Abaqus #AbaqusExplicit #FEM #Audi #Airbus #impact #crash #crashworthiness #simulation SIMULIA Animation: Sebastian Heimbs, IFL

Imagine you are giving a lecture on crash and impact dynamics of automotive and aeronautical structures because of the importance of this topic in vehicle design. Now how cool would it be to have an instrumented real crash test of two cars with an impact speed of more than 110 km/h performed for your group of students, to experience the destruction, the sound and the physics of the crash and to be able to analyse the results afterwards? Thanks to the crashtest-service.com GmbH in Münster and their wonderful managing director Peter Schimmelpfennig and his team, this is exactly what happened this week. With a group of 21 students from Professor Sebastian Heimbs' lecture "Crash and Impact Dynamics of Lightweight Structures" at the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures we had an unforgettable day, extending the classroom to the crash test site of CTS. To be honest, besides all the theory that we teach, this is not the only practical part of the lecture. We have already performed and evaluated metallic and composite tube crush tests and drop-weight impact tests on plates in our own test lab with the students, and we also teach them how to model and simulate crash and impact loads with Abaqus/Explicit. Interested? Register for next winter semester at Technische Universität Braunschweig. #crash #impact #crashtest #collision #teaching #dynamictesting #carcrash #studentexperience #weareIFL

NEW PROJECT: We are pleased for having received the LuFo funding grant for our new project „ISK - Integrated structure-system technologies for the preliminary design of climate-neutral aircraft configurations“ led by the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures 🛫 🏆 The collaborative project aims to explore innovative structure-system technology approaches for reducing wing loads using a comprehensive design strategy for the entire aircraft. This integrated design approach holds substantial potential for weight reduction, aiding in climate-neutral aviation through minimized primary energy requirements. To achieve low-drag wings with high aspect ratios—deemed critical for meeting climate targets—the project seeks additional technological ideas for load reduction beyond existing methods. A research alliance has been formed between the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures (Professor Sebastian Heimbs) at Technische Universität Braunschweig and the Control and Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory (Professor Rolf Findeisen) at Technische Universität Darmstadt with Airbus in the supervisory board of this project. The project has two main objectives: first, to quantify the additional load reduction potential of new technological approaches, including advancing concepts of aerodynamic flap usage and predictive flight control that may lead to a further reduction in wing weight. The second objective is to develop and apply a holistic design methodology that can optimize aircraft configurations and system parameters by taking dynamic behaviour and key load cases into account. This methodology aims to provide insights into achievable weight reductions and the effective interaction of various system components to achieve climate neutrality, safety, and cost efficiency. We are more than happy to take our new colleague Lea Schmitt on board of #TeamIFL to perform her doctoral research within this project. We thank Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for funding this important research. Many thanks also to Dr. Matthias Haupt and Wolfgang Heinze. #LuFo #Loadalleviation #Aircraftdesign #Aviation #Climate #Climateneutral #PraDO #Airbus #weareIFL Photo: Sebastian Heimbs, IFL, TUBS

Most gust load alleviation concepts aim to suppress the first bending mode as it is one of the main contributors to the wing root bending moment. At this year’s ICAS24, Alexander Herwig presented the first results of the EverScale project: a scaled aircraft design to validate the gust load alleviation concepts of the SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation— in scaled flight tests, as well as the first experimental results measuring the natural frequencies of the scaled 3D-printed wing. The application of the appropriate scaling laws and the chosen boundary conditions results in an aircraft designed with a wing span of 2.45 m that is aeroelastically deformable, a total mass of 25 kg, and a Mach number of 0.15. The aircraft mass brings to a relatively high wing loading when compared to typical remote control airplanes. Thanks to all the participants of this interesting research: Alexander Herwig, Dr. Matthias Haupt, Tristan Brack, Jorge A. Bustamante, and Prof. Sebastian Heimbs. Check the paper now: 👉 ✈ 📰 : https://lnkd.in/dDE-JDKC #loadalleviation #flighttest #scaledmodel #sustainability #se2a #ifl

As part of the new lecture 'Crash and Impact Dynamics of Lightweight Structures' at the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures, we had the great opportunity to have a student excursion and guided tour of the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung, BFU). Due to the location of our campus of the Technische Universität Braunschweig at the research airport Flughafen Braunschweig-Wolfsburg GmbH, we have a unique location advantage in Germany in the field of aviation: the BFU is directly across the street 😉 Our group of 23 participants had the opportunity to look over the shoulders of the experts as they explained how they analyse flight data recorders or cockpit voice recorders and to learn about the investigators' tasks when reconstructing aircraft accidents based on recovered damaged aircraft structures. Many thanks to Ekkehart Schubert and Michel Buchwald for the exciting insights and impressions! #studentexcursion #studentexperience #crashworthiness #aircraft #crash #aircraftaccident #fdr #cvr

UNICADO and UniSELECT Meeting We were delighted to host the UNICADO review meeting and the UniSELECT advisory board discussion meeting here at TU Braunschweig. Day two was a real treat for anyone interested in aircraft design, with an expert discussion around potential future aircraft technologies. These will be modelled within the UniSELECT project into the UNICADO software. Watch this space for more! Thanks to (among others) Mirko Hornung, Eike Stump , Andreas Bardenhagen from academia, Daniel Reckzeh from Airbus, and Florian Schültke as the project lead. As usual, the NFF provided a great environment at the Research Airport Braunschweig campus!

We are pleased and proud that - once again - our Prof. Sebastian Heimbs of the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures has been listed in the top 2% of scientists worldwide in the latest prestigious annual Stanford/Elsevier ranking based on publication and citation metrics, in both categories "career-long data" and "single year 2023 data". He is one of 89 scientists from the Technische Universität Braunschweig to appear in the top 2%, underligning the excellent scientific reputation of our university. 👏 🏆 https://lnkd.in/gp2fggdH #excellence #research #weareIFL

🎥✈️ It’s a wrap! 🎬 Our guests enjoyed a unique cinematic experience at the inaugural #TUBraunschweig Science and Art Lab event. The IFL - Institut für Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau test hangar at the research airport provided an extraordinary setting for this special film event curated by Internationales Filmfest Braunschweig e. V.. 🗣️ Shining star of the evening was the excellence cluster SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation which provided a look behind the scenes of their research into sustainable and energy efficient aviation. A panel discussion on the future of aviation and tours through their labs offered a one-of-a-kind experience for the attending audience. 🎞️ The short films programme explored various aspects of flight – from early attempts to fly to visionary concepts such as teleportation – and encouraged both critical and poetic reflection on the future of mobility. Read more: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e5YamCwb 📸 Marek Kruszewski/TU Braunschweig Jens Friedrichs, Peter Hecker, Jule Hillgaertner, Henrike Wenzel #Mobility #AviationResearch #Innovation #CinematicExperience #FutureOfFlight

As part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation Cluster of Excellence SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation at Technische Universität Braunschweig, the IFL - Institute of Aircraft Design & Lightweight Structures has been working for many years on the development of hybrid laminar flow control concepts for the more energy-efficient aircraft of tomorrow. The laminarisation of the wing can be achieved by active suction at the leading and trailing edges. Since bird strike is a typical design load case for any aircraft wing leading edge, we combine the function of an open-cell suction structure and an impact energy absorber in the sandwich core, which is a triple periodic minimal surface (TPMS) gyroidal structure. In our latest journal article by our researchers Mats O. and Sebastian Heimbs in Aerospace MDPI, we present the mechanical characterisation and energy absorption potential of polymeric gyroidal structures under quasi-static and dynamic crushing loads, using three different 3D printing polymers. Please check out the open access article via the link below. Future publications will also cover metallic gyroid structures and advanced design studies including bird strike analyses. https://lnkd.in/eATSE8k7 #birdstrike #3Dprinting #HLFC #laminarflowcontrol #gyroid #TPMS #aircraft #aircraftwing #sustainableaviation #energyabsorption #crushing #crashworthiness #impact #Formlabs