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A Bit More About The Problems Facing The Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Posted by JACK GRANT, Assistant Editor in Science & Technology.
Aug 20th, 2009 | Comments

Recently, I posted about being uneasy with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, specifically regarding the use of composite materials. Today NewScientist has a short article that gives a clue as to why there have been so many delays:

Why large carbon-fibre planes are still grounded

Clearly, composites are a work in progress. The trouble, says aviation engineer Philip Irving at Cranfield University in the UK, is that computer simulations often differ from reality. “Computer models are good at calculating composite displacement and stress levels, but they are not yet good at accurately predicting when they will fail,” he says.

The article ends with a note that extensive testing will ensure that planes made using composite materials will be safe to fly. Any change in design or materials in an application where failure can result in injury or death is risky, and no amount of testing can remove all risk. I’m sure there will eventually be a catastrophic failure and subsequent finger pointing that will ignore the fact that nothing is without risk.

Yes, I’m uneasy about the change to composite materials, in part due to some experiences I’ve had with them, but I won’t refuse to fly on a Dreamliner. We all make risk-benefit decisions every day, whether we recognize it or not.

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Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice.
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DLS

1. I'm confident that the 787 composite use eventually will be as successful as that on the 777.

2. There are _other_ reasons other than safety concerns why many of us still like steel bicycle frames...

Davebo

Advances such as the composites in the 787 are difficult.

But then, the de Havilland Comet wasn't exactly a success either. Yet we still have 707's operating that were built almost 50 years ago.

Be patient. Innovation isn't always pretty to watch.

Father_Time

One word....Fabric!

jeainnj

First of all, full disclosure. I work at Boeing (the military side). I have bought composite components for a few years now and have some understanding of how they're made.

Composite materials have been used for decades in aircraft. The fabric is made of Kevlar (for structural components) or fiberglass (for non structural parts), and layers are piled up on top each other with the strands crosswise to increase strength (like the grain in layers of plywood). A resin is introduced and the entire part is formed under pressure so the resin integrates with the fabric. As a result, the composite material is stronger than the aluminum parts it replaces, and is also lighter.

When composite parts have failed - as in the Airbus jet that crashjed in NYC a couple of months after 9/11 - it is due to other issues where the demand on the parts exceeded their engineered capability. That can happen in any aircraft.

jeffsloan

Full disclosure: I am the editor of High-Performance Composites, a trade magazine serving the composites manufacturing community.

If I read one more time about how composites are too "new" and a "work in progress," I'm sure that my head will explode. Composites, as the last post said, have been in use on commercial aircraft for almost 40 years. This is not a new material, and this is not a material with which Boeing has no experience.

There is no doubt that Boeing is using composites on the 787 as never before, and there is no doubt that so doing presents challenges. But EVERY new commercial airplane presents its own challenges, whether made of aluminum, composites, or paper. The real challenge with the 787 is that Boeing has radically changed the supply chain, using multiple vendors to provide each structure. Akin to herding cats, this requires the sharing of design, material, and process data among Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Spirit AeroSystems, Vought, Alenia, several Boeing units, and thousands of subcontractors. It's a logistical nightmare with a million variables, all of which are almost impossible to immediately manage well.

The 787 will fly and it will be safe.

Kimo1

It's going to be just fine. The 707 and 747 were risky too and today, the simulation technology is 1000 times better. I do agree that BA doubled the risk when they decide to change the supply chain as well as go to composite. Bombardier pioneered this supply chain approach about 15 years ago and it took them several A/C to get it ironed out. But they did it and never looked back. BA can do the same. The devil in any new technology is in the details and dealing with those details is harder if you don't completely control the process. BA is now understanding that and taking control in many areas. .

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