H160 Composite Fuselage: Multidisciplinary Approach

The H160-B is the latest recently certified helicopter from Airbus Helicopters with extensive use of composite materials in the airframe. In this paper an overview of the fuselage architecture and its design will be provided. During the design phase emphasis was laid on close cooperation between all the involved engineering disciplines like architecture, design, stress, tooling, manufacturing simulation and production. Target was to achieve smaller tolerances resulting in better fit of the parts during assembly, increase first time right and show compliance with the latest airworthiness requirements. For composite parts this process will be shown using the examples of a main frame in prepreg technology and the Upper Deck Framework in RTM technology. The substantiation of the airframe was based on the similar new structure approach with analytical tools for numerical simulation that have been supported by tests of novel design features.