A parametric study on the design factors influencing the thermal performance of nickel alloy C263 sandwich panels

To protect the airframe and the payload of hypersonic cruise vehicles from aerothermal heating and aerodynamic loading, metallic thermal protection systems (MTPS) are intended to be used. MTPS are composite structures containing a combination of insulating material and two sandwich panels placed on top and bottom of it. There are numerous design factors influencing the (a) thermal performance and (b) density of these sandwich panels (SP). In the current study, the effect of six important geometric design parameters of nickel alloy C263 sandwich panel viz., (A) core cell shape, (B) core cell size, (C) core cell height (D) core sheet thickness, (E) top and (F) bottom face sheet thickness were evaluated and analysed using Taguchi-based design of experiments (DOE) approach. The results obtained were analysed using standard statistical analysis techniques in order to identify the optimum combination of design parameters and to ascertain the influence of each aforementioned design parameters on the performance of C263 sandwich panels. Further, the optimum combination of sandwich-panel design parameters that provides the best thermal performance with lowest density has been identified using an algebraic model and validated. The results obtained are presented and discussed here.

Automated summary

In this study, the effect of six important design parameters on the thermal performance and density of nickel alloy C263 sandwich panels was evaluated using the Taguchi-based design of experiments approach. The results were analyzed using statistical analysis techniques to determine the optimal combination of design parameters and their influence on the performance of the sandwich panels. An algebraic model was used to identify the optimum combination of design parameters that provides the best thermal performance with the lowest density. The results are presented and discussed in this paper.