Development of a Multidisciplinary Process Chain for the Preliminary Design of Aircraft Structures

Abstract

In the preliminary design phase of an aircraft development trade studies are conducted to find an optimized design for an aircraft fuselage which calls for fast and efficient model generation. Based on the standardized aircraft description format CPACS, a fully parameterized fuselage modelling tool was developed to generate global aircraft FE models for static sizing using shell elements for the skin and elastic beam elements for reinforcements and the floor structures. For a subsequent investigation of the crash behaviour the models can be refined locally in the expected impact regions by the use of fine shell elements to account for energy absorption methods - plasticity in case of a metallic or damage introduction in case of composite construction. Likewise some other regions may be modelled using a fine shell element mesh, e.g. the door surround structure which must not deform plastically in survivable crash load cases to assure its function as an emergency exit. In this paper the process chain and its data processing methods are presented in detail. Also benchmark tests for model generation were conducted and evaluated. Concluding, an outlook shows possible further development steps and potential future applications.