Expansion of the cabin description within the CPACS air vehicle data schema to support detailed analyses

Kurzfassung

The air vehicle data schema CPACS (Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema) provides a large variety of options for describing passenger aircraft on different levels of fidelity and exchanging product information in collaborative processes. The section describing the aircraft cabin has been applied primarily in the context of preliminary design processes in the past. However, in the wake of recent developments to integrate more detailed analyses in fields such as vibro-acoustics or passenger comfort, the limitations of the present cabin definition have become increasingly obvious. In this paper, a revised version of the cabin definition is, therefore, presented, which has been adopted as of CPACS version 3.4. A key objective of the new definition is the integration of high-fidelity component geometry models, provided as either polygonal 3D meshes or CAD geometry. For efficient data storage, individual components are collected in a library node in CPACS and subsequently placed inside the fuselage via references. The range of available cabin component types is extended by including paneling elements and luggage compartments. Furthermore, nodes for referencing structural elements are provided to enable modeling of structural connections, e.g., in finite-element models. Aside from the sheer parametric description of the cabin in CPACS, its correct geometric interpretation is also a key aspect, which will be highlighted throughout this work. It is demonstrated using a reference implementation, which allows for the generation of 2D and 3D models for validation.