Software simulates and analysis producibility of composite parts
Keywords: Software, Composite materials, Aircraft
VISTAGY, Inc., recently announced the purchase of FiberSIM 3.4 by The Boeing Company. The Commercial Airplanes business unit, Wichita Division, will use the software in manufacturing advanced-composite nacelles, or engine cowlings, for the 700-series aircraft.
The FiberSIM suite of tools is integrated into popular CAD systems to create a specialized environment for designing, analyzing, and manufacturing parts made of advanced composite materials. The software is described as helping engineers improve performance and reduce the cost to design and manufacture composite components.
This purchase of FiberSIM marks the first use of the software by Boeing in the design of large nacelle structures for commercial aircraft. Boeing has previously used the product on military and space projects including the F-22,and F-18 aircraft; V-22 and Apache rotorcraft; and the Delta Series rocket(Plate 9).
Plate 9 Shown is a FiberSIM simulation of a single composite ply that is draped on a tool for fabricating an aircraft nacelle (engine cowling). The blue, yellow and red lines represent true fiber orientations of a composite material. Ideally the fibers would all lie exactly in the direction defined for ply lay-up in this case, a 0 degree orientation relative to the nacelle's coordinate system. However, the complex curvature of the nacelle surface causes fibers to deviate from the 0 degree orientation during lay-up. The deviation beyond specified tolerances is shown here in yellow (2 to 5 degrees deviation) and red (over 5 degrees deviation). Controlling fiber orientation is of primary importance in producing composite parts because it ensures that the part is manufactured to meet structural specifications. Before FiberSIM was available, engineers confirmed the orientation of fibers manually on each ply during physical prototyping, which was a time-consuming trial and error process. FiberSIM enables engineers to electronically evaluate multiple composite manufacturing processes, designs, and material types in order to select the optimal combination prior to costly physical prototyping
VISTAGY also report the selection of FiberSIM software by the Delta Technical Operations Center (Delta' TOC) division of Delta Airlines. We understand that this purchase of FiberSIM marks its first implementation by a maintenance,repair and overhaul (MRO) division for commercial aircraft. The software we are informed will enable Delta TOC (Atlanta, Ga.) to provide more efficient and cost-effective MRO of composite parts.
"The Component Maintenance Department at Delta TOC is responsible for the maintenance of 150,000 components a year with third-party MRO volume doubling year over year," says Keith Coleman general manager Component Maintenance.
"The FiberSIM purchase is part of our business strategy to automate and streamline operations at Delta TOC," says Brian McNichols, senior engineer. "We expect that the software will pay for itself in the first six months of implementation and provide Delta an additional competitive advantage in the MRO of composite parts to other commercial airlines as well."
Based at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, Delta TOC is responsible for scheduled and nonroutine maintenance on Delta's fleet of 588 planes. Aircraft models serviced include the Boeing 727, 737, 757, 767, and 777,as well as the MD-I I, MD-88, and MD-90. Repair of high-performance composite parts, such as engine inlet cowlings and pylon fairings, is among the most expensive and time-consuming tasks in aircraft MRO.
Traditionally, the process of evaluating and repairing a composite part involves manually producing repair details, overhauling the part, testing it,and revising the overhaul procedure until the process is optimized. With FiberSIM, however, it is believed that Delta TOC engineers can significantly shorten this costly manual process. Delta's goal is for the software to accurately produce repair details that will restore a damaged part to its original design strength before beginning the process of physical repair. FiberSIM also generates accurate flat patterns for cutting the layers (plies) of composite material for the parts. A long-range goal at Delta TOC is to assemble a digital library of composites repair data for all the aircraft they service.
FiberSIM software has been instrumental in the design and production of composite parts at most of the major commercial and military aerospace manufacturers. FiberSIM tools automate the design process, assess the producibility of a part, and generate manufacturing information to interface with automated cutters, laser projectors, and fiber placement machines. The software is said to enable users to drive all aspects of preliminary design,analysis, detailed design, and manufacturing from within a single CAD master model. FiberSIM incorporates XML tools to share design data with other applications throughout the enterprise, such as software for procurement,quality assurance and manufacturing (Plate 10).
Plate 10 View of FiberSIM during composite part design. On the left is a FiberSIM simulation of a single composite ply that is draped on a tool for fabricating an aircraft fairing. The blue, yellow and red lines represent true fiber orientations of a composite material. Ideally, the fiber tows would remain undistorted during ply lay-up and would align with the required orientation (0, 45, or 90 degrees). However, while most of the ply will have little or no fiber deformation (shown in blue), the complex curvature of the part causes areas of mild (yellow) and extreme (red) deformation during lay-up. Controlling fiber orientation is of primary importance in producing composite parts because it ensures that the part will meet structural specifications. On the right is the flat pattern FiberSIM generated as a guide for cutting the composite material of the fairing. The two vertical red lines show the maximum material width available. In this case, the ply will be created from a combination of pieces, since it exceeds the material width.
Details available from: VISTAGY, Inc. Tel: +1 781 290 0506; Fax: +1 781 290 0507; Website: www.vistagy.com
