COVER PROFILE


small team of engineers began developing software for the design of wind tunnel models, and later branched out to address complex engineering needs in various areas of product design, simulation, manufacturing and process requirements through the company’s 3D Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software. Since then, the company’s full


digital mock-up (DMU) software, and later its 3DExperience platform, have been used by numerous aerospace customers to reduce the number of physical prototypes, realise substantial savings in product development cycle times, and enable global engineering through virtual working. Over the years, Dassault Systèmes has worked with a broad range of established aerospace and defence companies and start-ups to improve how aviation products are designed and manufactured with the latest technological tools spanning virtual reality (VR) and data analytics to virtual twins. “The journey from CAD drawings of


aeroplanes to virtual twins of cities, spacecraft and humans has been our journey of innovation over the last 40 years,” says Singh Kharbanda. “As systems become more complex to design, build and deliver, aerospace and defence OEMs and suppliers need to accelerate innovation, drive efficiencies and move to the factory of the future for greater agility on production rates. This requires a new way to conceptualise, design, manufacture, test, certify and sustain new air and space vehicles.”


FORMING EFFECTIVE ECOSYSTEMS During the 41st Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in October 2022, numerous governments confirmed their support for net-zero carbon emissions for aviation by 2050. To achieve this, the principal focus is now on the development of new technologies and fuel sources, Belkhichane explains. “To address a truly end-to-end


sustainable system, companies should approach the system-of-systems perspective in order to consider not only their impact at the product level, but also at the company and value network level,” she says. “By doing so, if we consider the case of future hydrogen


www.engineerlive.com 7


aircraft for instance, companies will be able to take sustainability decisions around the raw material sourcing, the choice of suppliers for hydrogen transportation, or the best designs for hydrogen storage that take into consideration the requirements of the whole ecosystem.” This system-thinking approach will


be particularly important in the case of hydrogen infrastructures at airports, she adds, because the on-site storage definitions will further impact the remaining options and decisions for distribution and transportation, from which emissions must be captured.


NOVEL AIRCRAFT TECHNOLOGIES To meet these ambitious decarbonisation targets, innovative aircraft concepts and architectures are being developed, especially concerning propulsion systems. Electrifying the propulsion function will offer significant environmental improvements for smaller aircraft and short-range missions limited to a few hundred kilometres, according to Singh Kharbanda. “This is especially suited to electric


vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft in the so-called urban air mobility market,” he says. “Dassault


Systèmes is supporting these new pioneers of aviation, including Vertical Aerospace in the UK, Joby Aviation in the US, and Ascendance Flight Technologies in France.” When it comes to medium and


long-range destinations, hydrogen propulsion is considered a promising technology, either in the form of a hydrogen fuel cell, or to power jet engines with hydrogen combustion to increase thrust, Belkhichane adds: “Hydrogen is a key part of the solution not only because of its unique property towards energy density, but also because it completely eliminates CO2 emissions in flight and can be produced carbon-free. This is, for instance, the important cornerstone chosen by Airbus in the design of future zero- emission airplanes expected to be commercialised in 2035.” However, this creates new


challenges around working out how to use hydrogen in various aviation technologies: “Some of them are the impact of very large storage systems on the aircraft architecture, and we will probably see totally disruptive airframes for civil aviation – like the blended-wing aircraft – that will be designed to store as much hydrogen as possible,” she adds. “Significant research and development are also


VR, data analytics and virtual twins are aiding the development of future aviation components


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44