Computational Analysis of Flight Deck Structural Behaviour under Variable Loadings

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is subjected to various loads. In addition, the operation of fixed-wing aircraft presents unique structural requirements for the deck. This paper, therefore, compares the structural behaviour of a flight deck which was designed following the guidelines of three classification societies: Lloyd’s Register (LR), Det Norske Veritas Germanischer Lloyd (DNV), and Registro Italiano Navale (RINA). The loading scenarios considered in this work represent the operation of an F-35B Lightning jet from a Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carrier. A commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software ANSYS was also used to investigate the deflection, stress and strain on the deck plates. The analysis identified that only the calculated deck thickness values based on the LR regulations would meet the requirement for the class. This finding was further supported by the FEA.