Overview
This proposal dedicated its tasks to the specification, design and development of a software application to support the CLEANSKY Green Regional Aircraft Design. The WEMACS software suite was intended to become a high-tech, flexible and innovative tool to provide estimation on structural components. Existing know-how on parts were used to provide accurate estimates on structural changes. The structures focus will be on the wings, fuselage pylons and tail of the aircraft. Parameters on size and geometry, weights and manufacturing costs shall be calculated with depth and accuracy. WEMACS shall obtain detailed weights for structural items taking baseline information previously obtained by conventional methods. It will also derive updated detailed information about costs to manufacture the aircraft. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) philosophy is where WEMACS draws its foundation. KBE is the added innovative component in WEMACS, driving progress in the technological implementation of the knowledge management vision and strategy for the aircraft engineering business.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
The main objective of this project was the development of a software application - WEMACS - capable of obtaining detailed weights and manufacturing costs of various structural components of an aircraft, to support the Clean Sky Green Regional Aircraft development process in the preliminary design phase, and enable achieving the pollution and noise reduction targets for the regional aircraft entering the market in the coming decades.
Starting from a first level weight breakdown and based on conventional technologies given as input by the user along with other relevant data, the WEMACS software application provides a detailed weight breakdown for the fuselage, wing, horizontal and vertical stabilizing surfaces and pylons. The tool was designed to consider new materials, technologies and design solutions for the weight estimation, while estimating the cost for each of the components.
To promote flexibility and reusability in other projects as well as to allow future evolutions/expansion and updates, the WEMACS tool was designed and developed in a highly modular fashion. Each module is independent from others and with clearly defined, easily reconfigurable interfaces.
The modular approach and transparent interfaces also means that WEMACS architecture is easily integrated, as a whole or partially, into more complex aircraft design tools, namely in Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO) environments.
The consortium was composed by GMV Portugal (GMV), acting as coordinator, and Spin.Works (SPW) from Portugal, KE-Works (KEW) and University of Delft (TUD) from Netherlands.
Project Context and Objectives:
From a technical perspective, the most relevant deliverables of this project were D2.1 – Software Requirements Document, D3.1 – Methodology Tool Design Document, D5.1 – Test Cases Document, D5.2 – Integration and Verification Report and two Software Packages, containing the WEMACS tool. Although not an official deliverable, the coordinator, responsible for the tool HMI, has prepared and submitted also a User Manual. The purpose of this document was to present the WEMACS application to the user and to provide the WEMACS user a comprehensive guide to the application’s features and describe the best way to use them. All deliverables were submitted to the Topic Technical Manager, which in this case is Alenia Aeronautica, and duly approved.
WEMACS software application, starting from a first level weight breakdown based on conventional technologies given as input by the user along with other relevant data (e.g. concerning geometries, design variables, etc.), is capable of obtaining a detailed weight for each structural item while also providing also detailed information about costs.
By default, a detailed weight breakdown is estimated based on conventional technologies. This detailed conventional weight breakdown may be then updated by the user through the tuning of weight technology coefficients in accordance with the following potential changes to the project (see Figure 3 2):
• New materials (i.e. change from Aluminium to CFRP; change from Aluminium to Aluminium-Lithium etc.);
• New technologies (i.e. new manufacturing processes);
• New design solutions (i.e. one piece frames, different frame and/or stringer spacing, one piece barrels, fuselage panels layout, wings with/without centre box etc.).
This design philosophy allows for quick and easy trade-off analyses.
WEMACS software application also estimates the costs associated to the conventional and innovative solutions.
WEMACS users have yet the possibility to create new input files from within the application, reducing the time needed to explore changes in aircraft design and even novel aircraft configurations. Coupled with well defined interfaces and the ability to run in batch mode, WEMACS becomes a tool easily integrated into wider aircraft design frameworks.
Potential Impact:
The WEMACS Consortium has developed several dissemination activities under the scope of the WP7 (Dissemination and Exploitation). The main objectives of such activities are: to ensure a systematic dissemination of the project outcomes among the aeronautical community (public dissemination) and to facilitate the collaboration and information exchange between partners (internal dissemination).
The dissemination activities are under the responsibility of each consortium member and therefore, each partner reports on the activities they carried out for the dissemination of the WEMACS project results, activities that are compatible with the any protection of intellectual property rights, confidentiality obligations and legitimate interests of the owner(s) of the foreground.