Sandwich fuselage design

Aerospace Engineerin

Method for bonding a thermoplastic polymer to a thermosetting polymer component

The invention relates to a method for bonding a thermoplastic polymer to a thermosetting polymer component, the thermoplastic polymer having a melting temperature that exceeds the curing temperature of the thermosetting polymer. The method comprises the steps of providing a cured thermosetting polymer component comprising an implant of a thermoplastic polymer at least at the part of the thermosetting polymer component to be bonded, locating a thermoplastic polymer in contact with at least the part to be bonded, heating the assembly to the melting temperature of the thermoplastic polymer, whereby the thermoplastic polymer of the implant melts and fuses with the thermoplastic polymer, and cooling the assembly. The thermoplastic polymer has a melting temperature that exceeds the curing temperature of the thermosetting polymer, and the implant is designed such that heating above the maximum operating temperature of the thermosetting polymer at the interface of the implant with the thermosetting polymer component is avoided during the bonding step.Aerodynamics, Wind Energy & PropulsionAerospace Engineerin

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Using Symbolic Sensitivity Analysis

The least-squares finite element method is used to solve the compressible Euler equations around airfoils in transonic regime. The symbolic analysis method is used to generate the element stiffness and force matrices. The equations of the element matrices are derived symbolically based on the flow primitive variables and the position of the element nodes. The symbolic analysis is also used to compute the exact derivatives of the residuals with respect to both design variables (e.g. the airfoil geometry) and the state variables (e.g. the flow velocity). The symbolic analysis allows to compute the exact Jacobian of the governing equations in a computationally efficient way, which is used for Newton iteration. Besides, using the symbolic analysis the sensitivities of the outputs, such as the airfoil drag, with respect to the design variables, such as the airfoil geometry, are computed using the discrete adjoint method without the need for automatic differentiation. This makes the analysis and optimization computationally more efficient.Flight Performance and Propulsio

Engineering primitives to reuse design process knowledge

Aerospace Engineerin

Service oriented concurrent engineering with hybrid teams using a multi-agent task environment

Aerospace Engineerin

Development and implementation of knowledge-based design process primitives

Aerospace Engineerin

A multi-level environment to support demand driven design

Aerospace Engineerin

Multi-fidelity wing aerostructural optimization using a trust region filter-SQP algorithm

A trust region filter-SQP method is used for wing multi-fidelity aerostructural optimization. Filter method eliminates the need for a penalty function, and subsequently a penalty parameter. Besides, it can easily be modified to be used for multi-fidelity optimization. A low fidelity aerostructural analysis tool is presented, that computes the drag, weight and structural deformation of lifting surfaces as well as their sensitivities with respect to the design variables using analytical methods. That tool is used for a mono-fidelity wing aerostructral optimization using a trust region filter-SQP method. In addition to that, a multi-fidelity aerostructural optimization has been performed, using a higher fidelity CFD code to calibrate the results of the lower fidelity model. In that case, the lower fidelity tool is used to compute the objective function, constraints and their derivatives to construct the quadratic programming subproblem. The high fidelity model is used to compute the objective function and the constraints used to generate the filter. The results of the high fidelity analysis are also used to calibrate the results of the lower fidelity tool during the optimization. This method is applied to optimize the wing of an A320 like aircraft for minimum fuel burn. The results showed about 9 % reduction in the aircraft mission fuel burn.Flight Performance and Propulsio

An Automated Design Approach for High-Lift Systems incorporating Eccentric Beam Actuators

In order to asess the merit of novel high-lift structural concepts to the design of contemporary and future transport aircraft, a highly automated design routine is elaborated. The structure, purpose and evolution of this design routine is set-out with the use of Knowledge-Based Engineering techniques. As a case-study, the automated design of the Eccentric Beam Actuator is treated here, but the developed routine is meant to be applicable in a generic fashion, allowing for other concepts in the future.Aerodynamics, Wind Energy & PropulsionAerospace Engineerin