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Solidworks FEA confirmed that the deformation is consistent with a 2-bolt load application. The magnitude of the deformation suggests that either the aluminum exhibits lower than expected mechanical properties after welding, or that the piston supplied significantly more force than anticipated.
To perform this analysis, we performed a static load analysis on the Avionics Bulkhead modeled in CAD as of November 16, 2017. Some notable limitations of this analysis are:
- In actuality, this would be better modeled by an impact.
- Since significant deformation was observed (see the image below), it is clear that a nonlinear analysis would be required to accurately model the deformation. The static load analysis was performed to get a basic idea of expected deformation shape and to proof material exceedance at the expected loads.
Additional Analysis is underway.
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