N142-103 TITLE: Innovative CH-53K Cargo Floor System

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Materials/Processes

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 261

OBJECTIVE: Develop, demonstrate, and integrate an innovative cargo floor system for the CH-53K.

DESCRIPTION: Existing cargo floors are heavy and have limited durability, impacting mission range and operational and support costs. Current aircraft have aluminum floors which provide the required durability at the cost and limitations of higher weight materials.

An innovative CH-53K cargo floor system that stresses durability, low weight, operational capability, reliability, maintainability, manufacturability, and affordability is sought. Thermoset and thermoplastic composite alternative flooring materials have been previously evaluated by industry and are offered as examples only; all innovative flooring materials will be considered. Solutions capable of meeting all technical requirements while reducing total floor weight to less than 1,500 lb are sought. Final design technical requirements include:

The total floor dimensions are 8.5' x 44'. It is comprised of many individual floor system sections. The final design has to be capable of 12,500 hours of service without replacement, be comprised of both treadways and walkways, and to easily integrate to existing tiedown rings, roller rails and trays, 436L rail locking system, and guide rails. It shall meet the standards required in FM 55-450-2, MIL-STD-810G, MIL-HDBK-1791 and MIL-STD-1366E.

The floor system must support 300 lb/ft^2 for palletized cargo and 5,000 lb per axel for vehicles. Floor design must support restrained cargo subjected to downward forces resulting from applications of flight and landing load factors, including the effects of rotational accelerations, at each cargo station. The amount of restraint that must be used to keep the cargo from moving in any direction is expressed in units of gravity, or g's. The following dynamic and static restraint criteria have been established for this aircraft: 4 g's forward direction, 3 g's aft direction, 3 g's vertical direction and 3 g's lateral direction.

PHASE I: Design and develop an innovative CH-53K cargo floor system as described above. Demonstrate the feasibility by conducting analyses to prove proposed solution is capable of supporting 300 lb/ft^2 and has a total floor weight less than 1,500 lb.

PHASE II: Finalize the Phase I design and develop representative critical cargo floor system sections including a treadway section, roller section and walkway section for the CH-53K. Evaluate the prototype floor sections through demonstration testing under conditions representative of a military aircraft cargo environment.

PHASE III: Perform qualification and certification testing and transition the developed cargo floor system to the CH-53K, other military platforms such as V-22, and industry for use in commercial transport such as truck trailers, cargo containers, and railway cars.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: An innovative cargo floor can be transitioned into other airframes or be utilized in future design ideas, which will improve capabilities, safety, maintainability, reliability and reduce operational cost to any fleet. Improvements to floor design could also be utilized by other military platforms such as the V-22.

REFERENCES:
1. FM 55-450-2, 05 June 1992, Army Helicopter Internal Load Operations.

2. MIL-STD-810G, 01 Jan 2000, Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests.

3. MIL-HDBK-1791, 14 Feb 1997, Designing for Internal Aerial Delivery in Fixed Wing Aircraft.

4. MIL-STD-1366E, 31 Oct 2006, Interface for Transportability Criteria.

KEYWORDS: Safety; Durability; Cargo; Cost; Floor; Platform

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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