As part of an industrial research project at PtU, new possibilities for manufacturing stringers for the A320 family using flexible rolling processes are to be investigated. Stringers are stiffening profiles along the fuselage of an aircraft. With regard to lightweight construction, the material thickness exhibits variation in the longitudinal direction. With the help of the new process, the variable wall thickness is to be introduced into the profiles by rolling in an environmentally friendly way.

A rolling stand was developed and built to realise the new process, ‘flexible T-profile rolling’. In addition, the process has already been numerically simulated, whereby profile errors in the form of curvatures occurred. In this thesis, the process is to be investigated experimentally for the first time in order to validate the numerical simulations and the straightening methods already developed to eliminate the curvatures. The existing numerical model is to be optimised in order to ensure that the model and the experiment are in alignment.

I will be happy to answer any questions regarding the task. The contents can be discussed in a personal meeting.

Research method

Theoretical, experimental, numerical