A.1.3 General Assumptions

A.1 Preliminary Calculation of the Honeycomb plate using finite element Analysis

A.1.3 General Assumptions

In our calculations we use a coordinate system where the X axis is the Space Shuttle axis. We define X=Y=Z=0 as the normal center of the honeycomb plate. We modeled only half of the plate with appropriate boundary conditions due to the OXY symmetrical plane and due to the fixation of the honeycomb plate to the USS members.Because the load on the Y axis is not symmetric to the OXZ plane, the three load cases applied are not representing exactly the real load but are quite close to the real conditions. We plan to continue the calculations and expect to be ready to present results on the complete honeycomb plate by the end of April 1997.

All dimensions are in meters and loads in Newton, so results for stresses are given in Pascal = N/m2 and results of displacements in meters.

Issue: Draft - Revision: 04 - Last Modified: 20 April 1997