AEROSPACE DESIGN
ways, as engineers use modern software applications to extract additional benefits. Today’s Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s are built
with about 50 per cent (by weight) composites and, undoubtedly, future aircraft will see the percentage use of such materials increase. In the past, incorporating composites was about
substituting materials to achieve a lighter aircraft. Now composites are offering the potential to create whole new designs that will fully exploit the advantages these materials offer. Wing designs, for instance, can be a more aerodynamically efficient shape that would be expensive and challenging to achieve with a metal structure alone — a wing that is capable of both higher speeds and improved fuel efficiency. In jet engines, parts made from ceramic-matrix
composites (CMCs) allow them to run hotter — and at a higher performance level — than traditional metal alloys. And CMCs are lighter, which also drives innovation in turbofan engine designs. A 1 per cent reduction in fuel consumption can save more than $1 million a year for a commercial aircraft. The next-generation CMC technology GE Aviation is producing, for example, will improve fuel efficiency by up to 2 per cent. To make engine components out of composites
and other next-generation aerospace materials it is critical to have aerospace design and manufacturing applications that can handle the many challenges of designing these parts. These challenges include their complex geometry, the intricate definition of laminates, and the large number of plies and ply stacks that generate enormous amounts of data.
HMI AND AI Human machine interfaces (HMI) and artificial intelligence (AI) augmented with machine learning are making their way into the cockpit. While these technologies may sound like something out of a science fiction film, they are delivering more information in a clearer context to pilots, helping them make the best possible decisions in relation to such variables as speed, location and weather. A similar situation is developing with aircraft maintenance. Smart components and systems can
30 /// Environmental Engineering /// June 2018
alert maintenance engineers to out-of-range performance or a forthcoming service interval. This type of reliable, predictive and data-driven guidance makes flying safer and can help to avoid flight delays. Airports are large, complex and capital-intensive
operations that manage thousands of flights daily. Even a very small change in the efficiency of aircraft management at an airport can lead to dramatic cost savings for airlines. Eventually, we can expect the entire air-traffic
infrastructure to be automated and incorporate digital machine learning/AI systems. This, too, will improve safety and open huge potential for cost savings. New developments in decision-making and information management at the flight deck, maintenance office, airport management and air traffic systems level offer a glimpse of exciting new possibilities.
AVIONICS-SPECIFIC SOFTWARE Advances in software are also driving change: by some estimates, the number of lines of source code to control the avionics in an aircraft increases by 400 per cent every two years. This becomes unsustainable when the capability to handle change and manage
Digitalisation: the T
o stay relevant, aerospace companies will need to navigate change and realign to new ways of working and doing business. Composites will continue to affect how aircraft are made but in more meaningful
Groundbreaking advances in materials, software and artificial intelligence are transforming the engineering software division of Siemens PLM Software, argues that the trends they are driving
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