This study presents the results of experimental research and numerical calculations regarding models of a typical torsion box fragment, which is a common thin-walled load-bearing structure used in aviation technology. A fragment of this structure corresponding to the spar wall was made using 3D printing. The examined system was subjected to twisting and underwent post-critical deformation. The research was aimed at determining the influence of the printing direction of the structure's individual layers on the system stiffness. The experimental phase was supplemented by nonlinear numerical analyses of the models of the studied systems, taking into account the details of the structure mapping using the laminate concept. The purpose of the calculations was to determine the usefulness of the adopted method for modeling the examined structures by assessing the compliance of numerical solutions with the results of the experiment.
Keywords: 3D printing; aircraft load-bearing structures; digital image correlation; equilibrium path; finite element method; nonlinear numerical analyses; stability.