Heat shield assembly and mounting thereof on aircraft

1. A heat shield assembly comprising:

a flexible member comprises an upper piece and a lower piece bonded together, wherein the upper piece comprises a plurality of ridges and a plurality of depressions;

a plurality of frame members disposed on the flexible member; and

a plurality of mounting structures configured to directly mount the heat shield assembly to a strut of an airplane, wherein each of the plurality of mounting structures is disposed on one of the plurality of frame members.

2. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mounting structures comprises a plurality of clevis fittings.

3. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible member comprises one or more longitudinal stiffeners.

4. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible member comprises a ceramic matrix composite.

5. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the upper piece is a first single continuous piece and the lower piece is a second single continuous piece.

6. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein a hole is defined on each of the plurality of ridges.

7. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein an air scoop is defined on a sloped portion between a first ridge of the plurality of ridges and a first depression of the plurality of depressions.

8. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a longitudinal panel coupled to the plurality of frame members to define a flammable fluid containment volume in an upper portion of the heat shield assembly.

9. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mounting structures comprises flexible mounts at an aft portion of the heat shield assembly.

10. The heat shield assembly of claim 9 , wherein each flexible mount is configured to rotate from a first position to a second position in response to a change in temperature of the heat shield assembly.

11. The heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mounting structures comprises pivot mounts at a front portion of the heat shield assembly.

12. The heat shield assembly of claim 11 , wherein each pivot mount is fixedly attached to a respective one of the plurality of frame members in a longitudinal direction.

13. An aircraft comprising the heat shield assembly of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft further comprises:

a wing;

an engine; and

the strut coupling the engine to the wing,

wherein:

an upper surface of the flexible member faces the strut, and

a bottom surface of the flexible member faces the engine.

14. A method of determining a shape of the heat shield assembly of claim 1 , the method comprising:

providing a first shape of the heat shield assembly;

generating a finite element model (FEM) of at least the first shape;

applying a thermal load to a portion of the FEM associated with a surface of the first shape;

determining a deviation for each of a plurality of shapes based on the applying;

determining a shape change based at least on the deviation; and

determining the shape of the heat shield assembly based on the shape change.

15. A method comprising:

forming an assembly fixture associated with a heat shield assembly, wherein the assembly fixture comprises a plurality of frame members;

binding a first continuous piece to a second continuous piece to form a flexible member, wherein an upper surface of the first continuous piece comprises a plurality of ridges and a plurality of depressions;

mounting the flexible member to the assembly fixture;

attaching a plurality of mounting structures, wherein each of the plurality of mounting structures is attached to one of the plurality of frame members; and

mounting the plurality of mounting structures to corresponding mounting structures of a strut.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of mounting structures comprises flexible mounts at an aft portion of the heat shield assembly, and wherein each flexible mount is rotatable from a first position to a second position in response to a change in temperature of the heat shield assembly.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of mounting structures comprises pivot mounts at a front portion of the heat shield assembly, and wherein each pivot mount is fixedly attached to a respective one of the plurality of frame members in a longitudinal direction.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the binding comprises sintering the first continuous piece and the second continuous piece together.

19. A heat shield assembly comprising:

a flexible member;

a plurality of frame members disposed on the flexible member;

a plurality of mounting structures configured to directly mount the heat shield assembly to a strut of an airplane, wherein each of the plurality of mounting structures is disposed on one of the plurality of frame members; and

a longitudinal panel coupled to the plurality of frame members to define a flammable fluid containment volume in an upper portion of the heat shield assembly.

20. The heat shield assembly of claim 19 , wherein the flexible member comprises an upper piece and a lower piece bonded to the upper piece, and wherein a perforation extends through the upper piece.