Design of lattice structures for de-icing systems integrated in aeronautic airfoils

The aeronautical sector needs to optimize the weight of its structures without losing their functions. Nowadays, with the expansion of the additive manufacturing technologies, it is possible to satisfy the most extreme requirements of the lightweight design. This is often done thanks to lattice structures. In this thesis, a real application is described. It is a de-icing system for aircrafts constituted by a sandwich panel with a lattice core and patented by Politecnico di Torino. This thesis is focussed on the structural behaviour of the reticular frame under a static compression load. A general analytical method, which neglects the edge effects and is based on beam’s theory, is exposed. Its target is to evaluate quickly the stiffness by uniaxial compression of four types of lattice when the struts are slender enough, the number of cells is relatively high in the two spatial directions perpendicular to the load and as low as possible in the load direction. A series of experimental tests is performed over some significant samples with two kinds of topology. A three-dimensional FEM analysis is carried out to fit experimental and numerical results in terms of stiffness and deformation energy. Fatigue, thermal and impact analyses could be discussed in future studies. Moreover, new geometries and materials could be tested.