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As a result the existing method of building aerostructure using large numbers of dedicated manufacturing jigs and assembly tools, is now seen as being commercially undesirable, and technologically flawed.

Aerostructures assembly (ASA) is a vital process in any aircraft production phase that integrates individual detail parts, sub-assemblies, major assemblies, components, and systems into a final deliverable, a completed aircraft structure fit for flight. ...ASA depends on highly skilled manual labor work across the global aerospace supply chain for various assembly processes and subprocesses required for assembling detail parts into sub-assemblies and components to achieve the design intent of the load-carrying aerostructure that is airworthy for the complete operational cycle till disposal of an aircraft. ...The 6M enhanced framework is used to create as a process design tool, and the outputs of the research are converted in assessment guidelines, which were validated by a global aerospace accreditation body for its adoption in the aerostructures supply chain. This paper can also be used as a reference guide by ASA engineers to readily identify the factors that can impact any process, ensuring the highest quality and reliable aerostructures products to customers ensuring cost-effective On-Time Delivery (OTD).

Creating the initial designs and making subsequent changes to these complex aerostructures is both time-consuming and error-prone. In this article you will learn how a tightly integrated suite of software for aerostructure development greatly increases design and manufacturing efficiency of today's complex composite aircraft assemblies. ...In this article you will learn how a tightly integrated suite of software for aerostructure development greatly increases design and manufacturing efficiency of today's complex composite aircraft assemblies.

In conjunction with a number of supplier partners, Spirit has nearly 20 years’ worth of history and lessons learned regarding drilling and fastening processes performed by mobile industrial robotic systems including several new systems across multiple programs and aerostructure configurations.

An Aircraft’s assembly process plays a vital part in its design, development and production phases and contributes to about half of the Total cost spent in its entire product lifecycle. Design For Assembly (DFA®) principles have been one of the proven effective methodologies in Automotive and Process industries. Use of DFA® principles have resulted in proactively simplifying and optimizing engineering designs with reduced product costs, and improved efficiencies in product design and performance. Standardization of Assembly guidelines is vital for “Design and Build” and “Build-To-Print” manufacturing supplier organizations. However, Standardizing design methodologies, through use of proven tools like Advanced Product Quality Planning, (APQP) are still in the initial stages in Aerospace part and process design processes.

Goodrich Aerostructures Group and Goodrich De-icing and Specialty Systems Division (DSSD) are jointly developing an electrical High Efficiency Ice Protection system (HEIPS) for aircraft engine inlets.

Development of the autoclave forming aluminum (AFA) process has advanced current technology of age forming. Using an autoclave for application of aging heat and forming pressure, the process has been used to form 50 feet long, 2124 and 2419 aluminum wing skins containing integrally machined stiffeners and varying in thickness from 0.1 to 2.5 inches with thick pads in the middle of thin sections. The process produces smooth contours with no visible evidence of abrupt changes in thickness. The skins are believed to be the largest and most complex parts ever to be age creep formed in the history of the aircraft industry.

Experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of digital imaging, speckle correlation techniques for the measurement of rivet upsets. Rivets were installed in test coupons with various interference stress levels typical of current aircraft manufacturing practices. The coupons were digitally photographed before and after the installation of the rivets. These digital images were then compared using a rectangular-region correlation algorithm to determine the surface displacements caused by the rivet installation. The algorithm divides the two images into rectangular segments and then determines how far the segment of the after, or deformed, image has been displaced from the before, or undeformed, image. From this displacement data it is possible to determine the state of strain around the rivet installation, and thus the quality of the rivet installation.

Automated solutions for manufacturing composite products based on prepreg often imply Automatic Fiber Placement or Automatic Tape Laying. These systems are generally associated with huge investments. For certain manufacturing applications it is interesting to investigate alternatives to find simpler and less costly automation. One example of an automated system could be the use of a standard industrial robot to pick single prepreg plies from an automated cutting machine and stack them to form a plane laminate. This paper is based on a case illustrating a product from the aircraft manufacturing industry. The case will demonstrate a pick and place concept on a general level and illustrate challenges that must be solved. The challenge selected to be the main focus for this paper is an automated process for backing paper removal. A literature review of different gripping technologies reveals several interesting technologies, and the most promising are tested for backing paper removal.

With the increasing complexity of modern combat aircraft flight control systems, the flight trials phase of an aircraft development programme has become much more of an aircraft and systems model validaition exercise. This requires a highly integrated ground and flight test programme with accurate models of the aircraft and its systems and new analysis techniques to enable rapid and effective validation of these models. This paper describes recent experience at British Aerospace Warton on a number of aircraft programmes which has resulted in the development of effective real lime analysis techniques. These techniques provide the ability to perform in-flight model validation and are currently being used in the EF2000 development programme at Warton.

GKN Aerospace, COMAC subsidiary Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company (SAMC), and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC International) are establishing a joint venture based in China to manufacture advanced aerostructures for the civil aerospace market, with production scheduled to begin in late 2021 in a new state-of-the-art facility in a location yet to be determined.

In this paper solution for low-cost automation of aircraft assembly is presented. The concept of this development is closely related to “Lean Automation”, which in this case concerns the use of modern standard equipment such as standard robots, PC-computers and a newly developed spatial sensor system for precision measurements of positions. The robot is used to perform reconfiguration of tooling modules that are possible to be configured/reconfigured in six degrees of freedom. A prototype developed as the result of an EU-project called ADFAST* has been evaluated at Linköping University in Sweden. Technical functionality is reported where the robot manages to configure the flexible tooling modules to a total error bellow 50 μm. This paper presents the results on the portion of the project addressing robot, metrology system and tooling.

The Aerostructures Corporation has realized significant reductions in the number of work hours required to create surfaced, 3D wireframe CAD models of aerospace structures and tooling through the use of knowledge based engineering (KBE) and generative design models.

Previously part of a larger OEM, Spirit AeroSystems became a standalone company 5 years ago and is currently a Tier One supplier of aerostructures. Products include fuselage components, wing structures, engine struts and nacelles, and at the request of various OEMs, fully stuffed fuselages and podded engines where all of the wiring, heating, duct work, etc. is installed prior to delivery.

Large-scale aerostructures are commonly constructed using multiple layers of stacked material which are fastened together using mechanical methods.

Despite their advantages, their non-biodegradability raises challenges for the recycling of polymer and composites in particular Composite Repair Engineering Case Studies for U.S. Army Aerostructures The U.S. Army fields a multitude of aircraft mission design series (MDS) developed by several different original equipment manufacturers with varying mission requirements and flight profiles.

The aerospace industry is facing new challenges to meet burgeoning customer demand. An unprecedented number of orders for commercial aircraft is forcing aerospace manufacturing to make gains in efficiency throughout aircraft production and operation. However, current manufacturing systems are using technologies and production methods unsuited to a future dynamic market. To ensure its profitability, the aerospace industry must seize the opportunity to innovate and readdress approaches to manufacturing. This whitepaper looks at four advanced manufacturing (AM) solutions designed to improve assembly process efficiency, automation, and accuracy.

The big boys go for plastic While it is true that the latest developments in advanced alloy manufacturing techniques can deliver structures and components that meet all the product requirements that aerospace primes need for new aircraft, there can be no escaping the fact that there is now an unstoppable momentum building up for the plastic airplane.

Simulation supports aircraft safety From analyzing crashes to hard landings, the industry is evolving in how much it relies on CAE simulation to provide safer aircraft designs. As aircraft systems become more complex, simulation itself is evolving as well.

Advances in out-of-autoclave As carbon-fiber composites continue to gain weight share on modern aircraft, reducing the need for autoclave cures becomes more important.