Parametric Datamodel for Collaborative Preliminary Aircraft Engine Design

Abstract

An essential aspect of the collaborative multidisciplinary preliminary design process of aircraft engines is the involvement of a large number of experts from different disciplines and the usage of numerous tools and workflows. This is a major challenge, especially in the area of data management, as large amounts of data are generated that have to be exchanged and traced via a multitude of interfaces. The purpose of the paper is to present an approach of a central data model as a vehicle for data management in collaborative aircraft engine preliminary design. The first part describes the general structure and abstract definition of the developed data model utilizing modeling languages. Subsequently, a detailed description of the geometric parameterization concerning important engine components and additional data structures follows. Besides the methodology, the software implementation to support this approach is presented in detail, including data serialization and data identification, as well as automated capturing and storage of provenance data throughout the design process. The functionality of the approach is demonstrated by means of examples derived from the preliminary engine design.