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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0625.PDF
INDUSTRY Lockheed Martin selects CATIA GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC LOCKHEED xVlARTIN is to use Dassault Systemes' CATIA computer-aided design and manufacturing software as die core of a "virtual-development environment" it is creating, initial ly for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme. The company hopes to leapfrog its competition and cut costs and cycle times by at least 50% for development, and 30% for manufacturing and mainte nance, by making extensive use of modelling and simulation. Virtual product development will enable all aspects of aircraft design, manufacture and support to be simulated before parts and processes are created. "The main objective is all-digital product def inition, product mock-ups, manu facturing-process definition and manufacturing simulation," says Woody Sconyers, director of virtu al product development, at Lock heed Martin Tactical Aircraft Sys tems in Fort Worth, Texas. "Prototyping will be 100% digi tal and validation 100% by simula tion," die company says. Virtual product fabrication, assembly, sup port, factory and even enterprise prototypes will be created to see whether a tool can be built, part produced, or a business model made to work. The development environment will link all Lockheed Martin's Aeronautical Sector plants in real time, forming a "virtual enterprise", including suppliers. JSF: first to benefit from new virtual-development environment Lockheed .Martin has formed an alliance with Dassault and IBM to develop next-generation comput er-based development tools. This involves expanding the CATIA to allow solid models to be associated with attributes such as cost, weight, material and supplier to produce "intelligent objects". Extensions will be developed to allow CATIA data to be used with other software, such as Deneb Robotics' I-GRIP, used to simulate assembly, and Paradigm's Vega, used for visuali sation, Sconyers says. Lockheed Martin's agreement gives it at least a one-year lead in applying the extensions developed for the CATIA. The company is close to selecting the second major element of its virtual-development environment — the product data- management relational database which will ensure configuration control by allowing multiple users at different sites to work concur rently with the same design data. Elements of the development environment are being used in the design of the JSF concept-demon strator aircraft and the X-33 re usable-launch-vehicle technology demonstrator, which is being developed at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. The plan is for the environment to be in place for the start of JSF engineering and manu facturing development in 2001. • NEWS IN BRIEF • GE SERVICES FEDEX CF6S GE Engine Services is to support 125 CF6-6 engines powering FedEx McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, under a ten-year maintenance cost- per-hour contract. • TYROLEAN ADDS GPS/FMS Austria's Tyrolean Airways is to retrofit its 17 Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8s with Universal Avionics' UNS-1C global-positioning/flight- management system, begin ning in April, to meet Euro pean basic area-navigation requirements. • DAC DEALS HEADS UP Banner Aerospace subsidiary DAC International is to mar ket and distribute worldwide Heads Up Technologies' line of passenger-briefing and pilot's-checklist systems and annunciator panels. • ULTRA NIMROD 2000 Ultra Electronics Holdings has won a £48 million ($78 million) contract from Boe ing Defense and Space, to supply integrated acoustic systems for the British Aero space Nimrod 2000 mari time-patrol aircraft. UK- based Ultra is developing the systems in collaboration with Computing Devices Canada and Flightline Electronics of the USA. European team takes laminar-flow nacelle to windtunnel ACONSORTIUM OF Euro pean aerospace companies is preparing to begin full-scale wind- tunnel testing of what it claims is the world's first complete laminar- flow engine-nacelle system, aimed at reducing dramatically the am ount of drag produced by wing- mounted engine installations. The team hopes the ground- based trials will lead to further European Union funding, to allow flight-testing to begin by 1999. Engine nacelles are seen as a leading application for laminar- flow technology, because the air flow through and around them is relatively simple to analyse, and modified nacelles are easy to retro fit to existing aircraft. In addition, engine manufactur ers believe that it is cheaper to reduce the drag produced by the engine installation as a way of effec tively increasing thrust, rather than modifying the core of the engine. Reductions in nacelle drag of up to 30% are expected to lead to overall fuel savings of 1-3%. According to Professor Ian Poll of the Cranfield College of Aero nautics, where the windtunnel tests will be conducted, the Hybrid Laminar Flow on Aircraft Demo nstrator project will test the dynam ically controlled laminar-flow sys tem, and mechanisms to de-ice and clean the microscopic suction holes which smooth the airflow. Poll says that the tests are also designed to demonstrate that lam inar-flow engine nacelles are "aerodynamically straightfor ward", and offer "...big enough potential benefits to be worthy of the investment". He adds that the engine nacelle is a good target for introducing lami nar-flow technology in aircraft. According to Poll, the intakes used on existing engines encourage turbulent airflow around the nacelle. "The drag has always been accepted as a consequence of the engine getting the air it needs," he says. "We can maintain the perfor mance of the nacelle ...and, by using surface suction, maintain the laminar flow hitherto sacrificed for engine performance," he adds. Other participants in the project include GEC, Hispano Suiza, Hu- rel Dubois, Rolls-Royce, Shorts and Snecma. J FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 March 1997 21
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