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Improving the verification and certification process of the high lift system by introduction of virtual testing is one of the approaches to counter the challenges related to testing of future aircraft, in terms of performing more tests of more complex systems in less time. The quality of the applied modelling methods itself and the guarantee of a completely traceable simulation lifecycle management along the aircraft development are essential. The presentation shows how existing processes for the management of all test related data have to be extended to cover the specifics of using multi body simulation models for virtual tests related to high lift failure cases. Based on a demonstrator, MSC Software GmbH and Airbus developed and are still refining the SimManager based “High Lift System Virtual Test Portal”. This portal has to fulfil on the one side global requirements like data management, data traceability and workflow management.

Insufficient chip extraction often leads to disruptions of automated drilling processes and will have a negative impact on the surface qualities. One opportunity to avoid chip accumulation is based on a kinematically enforced chip breakage caused by sinusoidal axial oscillations of the drilling tool. Recent investigations have shown that the quality of chip extraction is, amongst others, considerably depending on the chip shape and mass which are defined by the cutting parameters feed, amplitude and frequency. So far only mechanical systems in the form of tool holders have been available on the market, which are restricted to a fixed frequency (oscillation frequency is coupled to the spindle speed). In the present study a spindle with magnetic bearings was used which allows to adjust the oscillation frequency independent of the spindle speed and therefore enables all opportunities to affect the generated chip shapes.

Pulsed assembly lines are providing an enormous potential to the aviation industry, especially in terms of reduced lead times, optimized asset utilization and an increased ratio of value adding processes. As it comes near to flow manufacturing the realization of a pulsed assembly line leads to special requirements to the use of NC programs for automated drilling and fastening processes, especially as a result of the unique part positions upon each pulse and concerning the balancing of the work onto several serialized fastening machines. The key to those challenges are versatile NC part programs that eliminate the need for any additionally written NC programs by self-adapting onto the concrete situation within the working areas of the production line.

“Smart” refers to tools that are “specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable/realistic, and time bound.” Smart assembly tools are used in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, and space for measuring, inspecting, gauging, drilling, and installing all existing fastening systems. Inside the Industry 4.0 environment, these tools have a huge influence on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), assembly cost reduction, process control, and even the product and process quality. These four domains—and their undefined nature—are the focus of this SAE EDGE™ Research Report. The technical issues identified here need to be discussed, the goals clarifying the scope of the industry-wide need to be aligned, and the issues requiring standardization need prioritized. NOTE: SAE EDGE Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry.

Increased production rates and cost reduction are affecting manufacturing in all mobility industry sectors. One enabling methodology that could achieve these goals in the burgeoning “Industry 4.0” environment is the optimized deterministic assembly (DA) approach. It always forms the same final structure and has a strong link to design-for-assembly and design-for-automation. The entire supply chain is considered, with drastic savings at the final assembly line level through recurring costs and lead-time reduction. Unsettled Technology Areas in Deterministic Assembly Approaches for Industry 4.0 examines the evolution of previous assembly principles that lead up to and enable the DA approach, related simulation methodologies, and undefined and unsolved links between these domains. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

In its entirety, automation is part of an integrated, multi-disciplinary product development process including the design, process, production, logistics, and systems approach—it depends on all these areas, but it also influences them as well. Automation in aerospace manufacturing is present throughout the entire supply chain, from elementary part manufacturing at suppliers up to final assembly, and a clear understanding of all the benefits (and drawbacks) of automation would help designers and engineers select the right designs for and levels of automation. The Right Level of Automation Within Industry 4.0 examines all impacts of automation that should be known by designers, manufacturers, and companies before investments in automation-related decisions are made—regardless of the which industry they work in. The process and the set of criteria discussed in this report will help decision makers select the right level of automation.

The presented paper describes the software complex developed in St. Petersburg Polytechnical University for AIRBUS aimed at simulation of aircraft assembly process. Previous version of this complex was described in [1].

Industrial requirements imply optimizing the development cycle, reducing manufacturing costs and reaching marketable product maturity as fast as possible. The design stage often involves multiple sites and various partners. In this context, the use of computer simulation becomes absolutely necessary to meet industrial needs. Nevertheless, this activity can be effective only if it is integrated correctly in the industrial organization. In the aeronautical and space systems industry, mechanical specifications often require the use of composites reinforced by continuous carbon fibers. The goal of this article is to describe how, on a time frame of nearly twenty years, a series of scientific and technical tasks were carried out in partnership in order to develop, validate and implement Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) flow simulation and cure analysis for high performance composites. The research stage started at the university in 1991.

The riveting process with a solid rivet is one of the most applied joining processes in the aeronautic industry. New materials and new design requirements constitute challenges that drive the users to a better understanding of the installation process of riveted joints. Therefore, this study aims with the aid of FEM simulation to understand the phenomena occurring during the installation process and afterwards to predict the mechanical properties of the riveted joint depending on the installation parameters and characteristics of the adherends. The experimental installation process for the validation of the simulation model takes place in a fully automated C-frame riveting machine with all-electric drilling and riveting operations aptitude and continuous collection of process data. This paper deals with the simulation of the installation process. The simulation model consists of a solid rivet with universal head described by the standard EN6081 and aluminum (2024-T351) adherends.

ASRP (Assembly Simulation of Riveting Process) software is a special tool for assembly process modelling for large scale airframe parts. On the base of variation simulation, ASRP provides a convenient way to analyze, verify and optimize the arrangement of temporary fasteners. During the assembly of airframe certain criteria on residual gap between parts must be fulfilled. The numerical approach implemented in ASRP allows to evaluate the quality of contact on every stage of assembly process and solve verification and optimization problems for temporary fastener patterns. The paper is devoted to description of several specialized approaches that combine statistical analysis of measured data and numerical simulation using high-performance computing for optimization of fastener patterns, calculation of forces in fasteners needed to close initial gaps, and identification of hazardous areas in junction regions via ASRP software.

Within this paper, the AIRBUS approach on the development of rivetless nutplates as an alternative to riveted anchor nuts is described. Within the frame of a wider analysis, it was identified that currently used riveted anchor nut elements does have disadvantages with negative impact on an optimized cost-efficient and lead-time driven design and manufacturing environment. Rivetless nutplate systems provide some features that are potentially capable to mitigate some of the identified disadvantages of riveted elements. The paper covers the key requirements and objectives that were put in place in order to identify the most beneficial solution(s). It furthermore contains detailed information on the rivetless nutplate systems selected by AIRBUS and the justification for the selection that was made.

The demand for higher production rates in aircraft industry requests more flexible manufacturing solutions. A bottleneck in production is the machining of large components by vast portal machines. Time-consuming referencing processes result in non-satisfying cost-effectiveness of these high-invest-machines. Mobile robot-based solutions are able to operate simultaneously which increases the productivity significantly. However, due to the limited workspace of robots, machining tasks have to be divided and long trajectories are separated in single overlapping segments. Thus high-accuracy referencing strategies are required to achieve desired production tolerances. In this publication different advanced optical reference strategies will be discussed taking the inhomogeneous behavior of a mobile robotic machining system into account.

Rising energy costs and increased regulation in recent years have caused industrialists to investigate how to apply ‘energy efficiency’ to their manufacturing operations. As well as reducing operating costs, the benefits of a ‘green’ image as a market differentiator are beginning to be realised. The literature describes the successful implementation of a variety of approaches to energy reduction, with particular focus on energy intensive industries (such as foundries) and on improvements to building services (such as lighting). However, a systematic approach to applying sustainable practices to the manufacturing processes involved in the production of high value products, such as aircraft, is noticeably absent. This paper describes how a number of sustainable manufacturing approaches have been combined, enhanced and applied to the shop floor of a manufacturing facility in the UK responsible for the production of large component assemblies for the aerospace industry.

Due to their unique and favorable properties as well as high strength to weight ratio, composite materials are finding increasing applications in automotive, aircraft and other vehicle manufacturing industries. High demand, production rates and increasing part complexity, together with design variations require fast, flexible and fully automated assembly techniques. In automotive and aircraft manufacturing, widely used bonding and sealing processes are automated using industrial robots due to their speed, flexibility and large working volume. However, there are limitations in achieving complete automation of these processes due to the inherent inaccuracies of the industrial robots, workpiece positioning and process tolerances. Currently, the robot programs are generated in CAD/CAM environment and are adjusted manually according to the actual workpiece.

The high demand of efficient large scale machining operations by concurrently decreasing operating time and costs has led to an increasing usage of industrial robots in contrast to large scaled machining centers. The main disadvantage of industrial robots used for machining processes is their poor absolute accuracy, caused by the serial construction, resilience of gearings and sensitivity for temperature changes. Additionally high process forces that occur during machining of CFRP structures in aerospace industry lead to significant path errors due to low structural stiffness of the robot kinematic. These errors cannot be detected by means of motor encoders. That is why calibration processes and internal control laws have no effect on errors caused by elastic deformation. In this research paper an approach for increasing the absolute accuracy of an industrial milling robot with help of a Laser Tracker system during machining tasks will be presented.

In Aeronautic industry, when we launch a new industrialization for an aircraft sub assembly we always have the same questions in mind for drilling operations, especially when focusing on lean manufacturing. How can we avoid dismantling and deburring parts after drilling operation? Can a drilling centre perform all the tasks needed to deliver a hole ready to install final fastener? How can we decrease down-time of the drilling centre? Can a drilling centre be integrated in a pulse assembly line? How can we improve environmental efficiency of a drilling centre? It is based on these main drivers that AIRBUS has developed, with SPIE and SOS, a new generation of drilling centre dedicated for hard materials such as titanium, and high thicknesses. The first application was for the assembly of the primary structure of A350 engine pylons. The main solution that was implemented meeting several objectives was the development of orbital drilling technology in hard metal stacks.

In Aeronautic industry, when we launch a new industrialization for an aircraft sub assembly we always have the same questions in mind for drilling operations, especially when focusing on lean manufacturing. How can we avoid dismantling and deburring parts after drilling operation? Can a drilling centre perform all the tasks needed to deliver a hole ready to install final fastener? How can we simplify specific jigs used to maintain parts during drilling operations? How can we decrease down-time of the drilling centre? Can a drilling centre be integrated in a pulse assembly line? How can we improve environmental efficiency of a drilling centre? It is based on these main drivers that AIRBUS has developed, with SPIE and SOS, a new generation of drilling centre dedicated for hard materials such as titanium, and high thicknesses. The first application was for the assembly of the primary structure of A350 engine pylons.

During mechanical assembly, individual parts are joined by different types of fasteners which are commonly to be installed into tightly tolerated holes. Drilling of widely used modern materials like CFRP and titanium leads to challenges in terms of tool and process development. A significant challenge is one step drilling in assemblies made from mixed material stacks. It results in deviating hole diameters making the additional reaming operation essential.”But also drilling of thick single material stacks imposes difficulties in terms of hole tolerance, chip extraction, heat accumulation and lubrication issues, leading to the necessity of drilling in several steps to achieve the required hole quality and integrity. During orbital drilling the drive spindle rotates eccentrically in addition to tool rotation and feed movement, leading to a circular path of the cutting tool. Orbital drilling can offer advantages compared with conventional drilling and reaming.

The paper presents the numerical approach to simulation and optimization of A350 S19 splice assembly process. The main goal is to reduce the number of installed temporary fasteners while preventing the gap between parts from opening during drilling stage. The numerical approach includes computation of residual gaps between parts, optimization of fastener pattern and validation of obtained solution on input data generated on the base of available measurements. The problem is solved with ASRP (Assembly Simulation of Riveting Process) software. The described methodology is applied to the optimization of the robotized assembly process for A350 S19 section.

The riveting process in the aerospace industry underlies high requirements to achieve the expected manufacture quality. Process parameters, the choice of materials, and the joint configuration are some influencing factors that can affect the mechanical properties of riveted joints. These high requirements constitute challenges that drive manufacturers to a better understanding of the riveting process. The numerical study of the effect of the installation parameters on the mechanical properties of mechanically fastened joints is one tool to achieve this aim. Usually, three-dimensional finite element simulations of both installation process and mechanical loading of the joint in service must be performed to make detailed numerical predictions of the joint behavior. This paper aims at the reduction of the computational effort.