3D Parametric Models for Aeroplanes — From Idea to Design

Abstract

The early design phase of an aircraft is characterized by a large variation of studies in a short period of time. In order to support the variation of aircraft shapes, an approach is taken in which the different aircraft component models are defined by a limited set of parameters. The challenge lies in fulfilling numerous and partially conflicting engineering requirements. Models should be as flexible as possible so that virtually “any” aircraft shape can be represented, in parallel the model should address the needs of different engineering disciplines located on different sites and in different countries. On the other hand each engineering discipline re-quests simple models with the smallest set of parameters possible to address their specific need. Finally, aircraft design is not only geometric and interfaces with the numerical world need to be established. During this talk we will be exploring the challenges and identified solutions for abstracting the aircraft geometry in a set of parametric models that can be shared and commonly used; we will see how dedicated CAD tools support the engineer and how the geometric models can be linked with the numerical (e.g. systems) world.