US 11,919,617 B2
Circumferential lap splices for sections of fuselage
Patrick J. Macko, Mount Pleasant, SC (US); Byron James Autry, Charleston, SC (US); James R. Kendall, Mount Pleasant, SC (US); Samuel James Knutson, Charleston, SC (US); Brian T. Peters, Mount Pleasant, SC (US); Michael J. Bailey, Summerville, SC (US); Matthew S. Stauffer, Summerville, SC (US); Steven Wanthal, Summerville, SC (US); Santiago M. Mejia, Charleston, SC (US); and Sara Murphy, Madison, AL (US)
Assigned to The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Sep. 21, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/480,880.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/127,004, filed on Dec. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0194547 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
Int. Cl. B64C 1/06 (2006.01); B64C 1/12 (2006.01); B64F 5/10 (2017.01)
CPC B64C 1/069 (2013.01) [B64C 1/12 (2013.01); B64F 5/10 (2017.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for assembling an airframe of an aircraft, the method comprising:
forming a first skin of a first circumferential section of fuselage comprising the first skin and first stringers, wherein the first skin includes a distal portion comprising a lip and a shoulder;
aligning a second skin of a second circumferential section of fuselage with the shoulder such that the second skin overlaps the lip of the first skin to form a lap join, wherein the second circumferential section comprises the second skin and second stringers; and
affixing the first skin and the second skin together via a circumferential splice by:
placing a filler onto flanges of the second stringers;
aligning the filler with an end of the lip such that a combined thickness of the filler and a flange of a second stringer is equal to a combined thickness of the lip and a flange of a first stringer to form a flat plane;
straddling splice fittings across the lap join between the first stringers and the second stringers on the flat plane;
driving fasteners through the first skin, flanges of the first stringers, and the splice fittings; and
driving fasteners through the second skin, the flanges of the second stringers, the filler, and the splice fittings.