The Boeing Company

Robert Vitlip

Brice Aaron Johnson

Kyle L McNamara

Russell Rufino

Ta Yau Lin

Kyle Mcnamara

A pressure bulkhead for a pressurized vehicle such as an aircraft employs a plurality of layers of composite fiber material having uni-directional fibers arranged in a single direction within the composite fiber material. The pressure bulkhead incorporates non-traditional radial and circumferential stiffening members into a composite laminate and aligns the radial stiffening members with the direction of dominant load paths. The radial and circumferential stiffening members are interlaid between full layers of the composite fiber material. Related methods of manufacturing the pressure bulkhead include using automated fiber placement equipment to form each layer of the pressure bulkhead and discretely orient the integral stiffeners and the uni-directional fibers in each layer.

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Glenn Mills, PA, United States of America

Robert Vitlip