MUSCA - Multiscale Analysis of Large Aerostructures
Overview
Background & policy context:
Structural testing of major aircraft components is a very expensive and time-consuming process that significantly adds to the overall cost of designing and certifying a new aircraft product. If testing can be reduced, based on validated and safe numerical analysis methods, this will provide the European aircraft industry with a significant business and technological advantage.
Structural certification, based on a virtual testing process, appears a promising way to achieve the following global objectives in a medium term of five to seven years.
Objectives:
The main innovation in the MUSCA was to address built-up structures with a high degree of complexity where the modelling is fine enough to capture local effects or non-linear behaviour that are necessary to predict both failure initiation and collapse. The scientific tools to reach these objectives require novel advances in computational mechanics and statistics that are addressed in MUSCA in parallel with large scale computing.
Based on the state of the art, the consortium identified three key research areas to address:
- Techniques for large scale Non Linear analysis: domain decomposition techniques coupled with advanced parallel processing Non Linear solvers, error estimator for quality assessment
- Multi-criteria failure analysis: critical review, selection and validation of the most efficient engineering procedures for multi-mode failure analysis of structural details
- Sensitivity and reliability techniques: assessment of input uncertainties (material properties, geometry and load scattering) on the structural performance using stochastic simulations, sensitivity surface response methods.
Methodology:
The project was structured into the following work packages (WP):
WP1 - analysis of structural certification of large components
Four large component structural tests were identified and documented by the industrial partners, with a special focus on the following items:
- description of the role of the test with regards to the overall process;
- description of the main analysis difficulties;
- process analysis, with a recommended way towards a more 'simulation assisted' process;
- delivery of CAD, FEM to the partners.
WP2 - Large modelling capabilities
The main objective of WP2 was to develop methods and computational schemes of such effectiveness that displacements, stresses and the maximum load carrying capacity of structural components of a size up to large aircraft sections can be accurately analysed with control of the error in the numerical solutions.
WP3 - Smart multi-criteria failure analysis
Within WP3 the multi-mode failure behaviour of large structures were identified and structural details were designed for each generic analysis difficulty of existent test data. Existing failure criteria were reviewed or further developed and validated using the defined structural details to provide an integrated multi-criteria failure analysis that could be accepted by airworthiness authorities.
WP4 - Reliability & sensitivity methods
The objective of WP4 was to deliver numerical tools that would be able to predict the effect of uncertainties on component performance and validate the integration of various types of data necessary to generate an understanding of a given component's characteristics including the uncertainties in materials, loading in a probabilistic sense.
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