Design and Fabrication of Plank Stringers

A method of fabricating a plank stringer for use in an aircraft, wherein the plank stringer comprises a longitudinal axis and a plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material, and wherein each ply of reinforcing material in the plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material is arranged at an orientation angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, the method comprising:

• grouping, via a computing device, the plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material into a plurality of charges, wherein each charge in the plurality of charges comprises a substack of plies;
• grouping, via the computing device, the plurality of charges into two or more groups such that, for each charge in a given group, a respective substack of plies comprises a sequence of orientation angles corresponding to the given group;
• laying up each group of charges as a continuous blanket of plies, wherein each continuous blanket of plies comprises the respective substack of plies for each charge in the respective group;
• cutting each continuous blanket of plies into the respective group of charges;
• and
• stacking the plurality of charges to form the plank stringer.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions for fabricating a plank stringer for use in an aircraft, wherein the plank stringer comprises a longitudinal axis and a plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material, and wherein each ply of reinforcing material in the plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material is arranged at an orientation angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, the functions comprising:

• grouping the plurality of stacked plies of reinforcing material into a plurality of charges, wherein each charge in the plurality of charges comprises a substack of plies;
• grouping the plurality of charges into two or more groups such that, for each charge in a given group, a respective substack of plies comprises a sequence of orientation angles corresponding to the given group;
• laying up each group of charges as a continuous blanket of plies, wherein each continuous blanket of plies comprises the respective substack of plies for each charge in the respective group;
• cutting each continuous blanket of plies into the respective group of charges;
• and
• stacking the plurality of charges to form the plank stringer.