Thickness of fuselage skin

[firelude]

Hello ARFF friends ! Is there somebody out there who know the thickness ( in mm ) of the fuselage skinn on a 737 / Dash 8 ? . I shall set up a drill where rescue tools will be used . I will use aluminium sheets mountet on the aircraft simulator.

[wagner299]

Here are 3 small paragraphs I found for ya. I could not find exact figures for specific a/c models, sorry.. Keep this in mind, there are considerable differences in the thickness of skin around different areas of the fuselage. Such as where panels overlap other panels, and where the fuselage meets the wing… Anyway, maybe the following can help a little..

The material properties used in the finite element model are based on those of typical materials used in the construction of the Boeing 737 fuselage. Aluminum 2024-T3, which possesses superior fatigue characteristics, is used for the skin panels.
Aluminum 7075-T6, which is a high strength alloy, is used for all other structural members, including frames, under-floor beams, and stringers.


Aluminum alloys are the most commonly used materials in aircraft construction, especially the 2024 and the 7075 alloys because they provide the best material property package. The former has good fatigue characteristics, the later has a high yield stress. They can be extruded into complex shapes, but have relatively low melting temperature.

The thickness of the skin in the fuselage is usually smaller than that used in the wing. The fuselage skin thickness of a pressurized, narrow-body aircraft such as the
Boeing 737 is in the order of 0.040 in.


Stay safe,
Happy Holidays,
Tom

Originally Posted by firelude

Hello ARFF friends ! Is there somebody out there who know the thickness ( in mm ) of the fuselage skinn on a 737 / Dash 8 ? . I shall set up a drill where rescue tools will be used . I will use aluminium sheets mountet on the aircraft simulator.

[DougD]

Firelude - I have been watching this thread hoping you would get an answer. As the Dash 8 is the primary commercial carrier at our airfield, I was also interested in any response you may have received.

Unfortunately there has not been a response yet.

Therefore, I have taken steps to contact the manufacturer (Bombardier Aerospace) with questions concerning fuselage thickness.

If and when any response is provided, I will post it here.

Keeping my fingers crossed . . . but not holding my breath !

[wagner299]

Firelude, are you looking for information on the Boeing 737-800 or the De Havilland Canada DHC-8-100/200 Dash 8 (or maybe both)? The information I posted with the .004 dimension was based on the Boeing 737 family, not the De Havilland "Dash 8"..

Stay safe,
Tom

Originally Posted by DougD

Firelude - I have been watching this thread hoping you would get an answer. As the Dash 8 is the primary commercial carrier at our airfield, I was also interested in any response you may have received.

Unfortunately there has not been a response yet.

Therefore, I have taken steps to contact the manufacturer (Bombardier Aerospace) with questions concerning fuselage thickness.

If and when any response is provided, I will post it here.

Keeping my fingers crossed . . . but not holding my breath !

[DougD]

E-mail response from Bombardier this afternoon:

Doug

We have a Crash Fire Rescue Manual which will probably answer all of your questions.
Please provide us with your mailing address.
Please also copy Mr. David Fisher as I will be out of the office until after Christmas.

Regards,
Tom Thomson

THD Technical Representative
Bombardier Aerospace Regional Aircraft


Once the manual arrives, I will make it available as much as possible through this site and my web site www.cysb.ca

If there is no information concerning fueslage thickness I will recontact them.

Hope this helps.

[ontarff]

.040 inches is the thickness stated in this report on page 30.

http://www.nd.edu/~ecorona/AME30341/notes.pdf

[Blair]

Something to keep in mind when selecting rescue tools is the total thickness of the wall of the aircraft. The outer-skin is just one thing you will have to cut through. There's also the insulation, and the plastic on the cabin wall.
We were looking into this when selecting what size rescue saw to buy. I contacted Les Omans about this subject before we purchased our rescue saw after he conducted the "Aircraft Rescue Research Project" that was conducted in San Bernadino. The project proved that a 16" wheel worked best even though it's big and cumbersome.