MATERIALS
10,000 and we have over 6,000 aircraft on backlog. However, the A320 wasn’t particularly designed with assembly or manufacturability in mind with regards to the wings. One of our focuses for Wing of Tomorrow is design around manufacturability, but primarily it will be centred around performance. We are aiming to achieve performance-driven, high aspect ratio, high span wings that have improved performance. To do this, we’re looking at lightweighting by introducing composite materials.”
TOMORROW’S TECHNOLOGIES, TODAY At its core, the Wing of Tomorrow programme is exploring radical new approaches to the design and manufacture of aircraft wings, from the best in materials, manufacturing and assembly techniques to new technologies in aerodynamics and wing architecture. “Of course, Airbus can’t do this on its own,” Kirby says. “Wing of Tomorrow has brought together 40 different partners
from around the world who are developing over a hundred different technologies to be validated through three full-scale wing demonstrators.” Airbus opened a new Wing
Technology Development Centrea (WTDC) at its Filton site in July last year, within which the wing demonstrators are housed. The new facility will help Airbus accelerate the design, build and testing of wings for next-generation aircraft by using the latest technology and demonstrators to improve wing performance.
HIGH-SPAN, HIGH- PERFORMANCE WINGS So, which technologies will be validated using the wing demonstrators? “High performance means lower fuel burn, and lower fuel burn means fewer emissions,” explains Kirby. “We achieve this through a high span width – the longer the wing, the more lift we can generate. However, the deeper the wing the more drag we generate. So, it needs to be a long, slender wing, like those of an Albatross for example. However, this narrow-body aircraft must be able to fit inside
all the usual gate sizes at airports around the world, which are restricted by width. So, this led us to developing a wing with a folding wing tip which remains locked down during flight but is then folded up once the aircraft has landed. And this has meant we are having to fundamentally change the way that we assemble the wing to deliver a more modular design that can be manufactured separately and added later in the assembly process.”
LIGHTWEIGHTING WITH COMPOSITES Composites are one of the key technologies that could enable wing components to be produced with significantly reduced equipment and tooling costs, while also enabling a faster production cycle. “We’ve been working with material
suppliers developing low-cost, highly-responsive composites which lend themselves to integration, such as having multiple parts in a single part,” Kirby continues. “This can greatly reduce, for instance, the number of bolts we use during assembly by tens or hundreds of thousands. We have been developing new fuel systems, electrical systems
Wing of Tomorrow is exploring new approaches to wing design and manufacture. Image via Airbus
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