UK firms input into Airbus super-jumbo
UK firms input into Airbus super-jumbo
Keywords: Aircraft, Wings, UK, Tooling
Completion of the first full set of wing skins, some measuring up to 33 m in a single length, for the new Airbus A380 “super-jumbo” has marked a significant landmark for Yorkshire engineering consultants Bennett Associates(Plate 3).
The A380 will be the world's largest passenger aircraft when it makes its first flight in 2005. It will carry 555 passengers – 140 more than the biggest aircraft today – and will be nearly 80 m long from nose to tail. The main wings, which measure 45 m along the leading edge, are being built at a new factory at Broughton, North Wales.
Plate 3Wrapping an A380 wing skin section and tool before forming on the new production system designed by Bennett Associates
The consultancy, based at Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was responsible for the top wing skin production system at the new factory, which forms and handles panels of aluminium alloy from 5mm to 25 mm thick, 23 m to 33 m long and up to 2.5 m wide. The cost was £7.7 million. In addition to designing the equipment, Bennetts managed its manufacture and installation, completing the project on time and under budget.
Each complete wing skin is produced in four sections, using a process known as creep forming that results in very accurately shaped panels with little alteration to their mechanical performance. “Creep forming creates a finished skin with very little inherent stress, which allows the designer to minimise weight and achieve the required performance,” explained John Wadsworth, who managed the project for Bennetts.
The A380 creep forming tooling incorporates several innovative features. For example, it can be adjusted to fine-tune the skin shapes, which kept the transition from prototype to full production to a minimum. This feature also allowed the tooling to be manufactured concurrently with the aerodynamic design process at Airbus, which greatly reduced the overall project lead-time from concept to production. Waiting for the wing design to be completed before starting to manufacture the tooling would have greatly extended the Schedule.
Bennetts also carried out intensive testing with suppliers of all the manufacturing processes to ensure that profiles cut straight from the CAD production drawings could go directly to a final laser profile check without the need for full trial assembly or intermediate checks. This not only produced the secure supply routes required by the project, but also reduced lead-times and costs.
The aerodynamic configuration data for the wing panels produced by Airbus,using a specially developed predictive modelling application, had to be manipulated to allow it to be transferred into Bennett's Catia v5 CAD software. The company created its own computer programmes for this task.
In addition to the creep forming tooling, Bennetts designed and project managed the installation of systems for checking and handling the panels before and after they are formed. Checking the form and edge profiles on the A380 wing skins takes just 1 h, whereas much smaller wing skins have previously taken a day to check.
“The facility, delivered to budget, is the first of its kind and was taken from initial concepts to a production-ready unit in under 2 years”,said John. “This is a major achievement when taking into account that the completed final aerodynamic shape of the wing was being developed in parallel with the manufacture and installation of the tooling”.
Details available from: M. G. Bennett & Associates Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)1790 373782; Fax: +44 (0) 1790 363730.
