Digitalization of Repair Processes in Aviation: Process Mapping, Modelling and Analysis for Composite Structures

Kurzfassung

Maintenance processes in aviation are of significant importance in order to ensure the operational readiness comprising the availability and reliability of aircraft. The increasing operation of composite-intensive aircraft including Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 as well as the growing usage of composites in secondary structures like stabilizers and winglets motivate research in modification and optimization of repair processes for composite structures in aviation. At the moment, the repair of composite structures is characterized by manual task execution, documentation in paper format and the focus on individual steps. In the future, the process should be digitally supported, documented in paperless format and the focus should be on the interactions and interfaces of the individual process steps in order to optimize the repair process. This is the first important step towards data storage and provision for more automated task execution and decision support systems. This then may serve as a basis for a visionary repair planning and process execution which is highly automated with perfectly aligned and interacting sub-processes with its documentation taking place completely in the digital world. In this paper, the literature and industrial solutions for digital support systems and process modelling approaches for both the aviation sector as well as other industries are reviewed and compared with respect to their digitalization level. The state-of-the-art repair process of aviation composite structures is mapped using the example of sharklets together with an industrial partner. This model is realized using the event-driven process chain (EPC) notation in the simulation software ARIS. The overall process in the repair shop is described hierarchically and relevant documents, information and data are identified. The different process steps are analyzed and potentials for a modified process execution are shown.