Preliminary numerical and experimental investigation of clamping effects on one-up drilling of stacked aluminium aerospace components

The emerging challenge in the aerospace industry of integrating thin structural units (thickness < 1.0 mm) into new assemblies, coupled with the necessity of drilling their stacked components, presents new investigative opportunities in manufacturing, including the study of new phenomena that arise during the drilling process. To address these challenges, this study offers a preliminary investigation into the drilling process carried out on samples representing thin fuselage and stringer assembly. Both experimental tests and finite element (FE) analyses were conducted. The FE model was developed to predict and estimate the elastic deformation and interlayer gap arising during the drilling process. The study considers multiple clamping configurations using temporary fasteners, aiming to assess their influence on system stiffness. This ongoing research provides initial insights into optimizing drilling processes for lightweight aerospace structures by addressing the mechanical interactions within stacked configurations. The findings of this study highlight the necessity of further investigating the phenomenon and investing in new FEM approaches. This is essential for accurately predicting clamping conditions when drilling large-scale structures such as fuselages.