Manufacturing process adaptation for integrated cost/weight optimisation of aircraft structures

Abstract

A methodology was developed that allowed the cost efficient design of composite aircraft structures. In earlier work, a cost/weight optimisation framework had been presented. This framework was now enhanced by a module that minimised the manufacturing cost in each iteration by the adaptation of manufacturing parameters. The proposed framework was modular and applicable to arbitrary parts and geometries; therefore, commercially available software was used. The framework extension was added to the existing cost/weight optimisation implementation and tested on an airliner centre wing box rear spar. Three optimisation runs were performed, and a low cost, an intermediate and a low weight design solution were found. The difference between the two antagonistic solutions was 4·4% in manufacturing cost and 9·7% in weight. Based on these optimisation trials, the effect of the parameter adaptation module was analysed.