• Ariane 5 adapters
• finite elements
• Reverse engineering

This study covers the reverse engineering of two Ariane 5 payload off-the-shelf adapters, PAS 1194VS and PAS 1194C.
After a brief presentation of a mission in which they were used (Flight 215, August 2013), the mechanical environment has been described.
During flight the spacecraft is subjected to static and dynamic loads (acoustic and harmonic) which are be analyzed in detail in chapter 2. All requirements have been reported in the specification.
These analyses were performed using the ANSYS Workbench. First, a simplied geometric and material model of each adapter has been defined, then static and dynamic analyses were performed. In order to evaluate the optimization of the structure for strength, stability and weight, all analyses (static and dynamic) were conducted on a 30% weight reduced version of the adapters.
The material strength of the adapters has also been studied in detail: fatigue and fracture mechanics have been evaluated for the metal material and a failure criterion has been assessed for the composite material.
Finally, special attention has been given to the performance of several bolted joints; the use of Hi-Lok pins has been assumed and their behavior has been analyzed under various load conditions.