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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2082.PDF
Air tra. • are Alenia, Composites Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM), EADS Socata, EADS Sogerma, Eurocopter, Finavitec, Fokker, Gamesa, GKN, Labinal, Saab, Sabca, and Sonaca. Korea Aerospace Industries is expected to sign for a 1.5% stake to produce aluminium wing panels. CTRM will supply wing leading-edge access panels, while Jamco will make the upper deck floor carbon crossbeams and Boeing-owned Hawker de Havilland (Australia) the wingtip fences. In all, Asian aerostructures suppliers have won A380 business estimated to be worth $1 billion. Innovations "We are quite comfortable with the com mitments we have from risk-sharing part ners and vendors," says Forgeard. Government-backed refundable loans account for a further 33% of the pro gramme cost, with the rest being funded by Airbus partners EADS and BAE Systems. Innovations being introduced on the A380 include the carbonfibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) centre wing box, rear pres sure bulkhead and rear fuselage section 19 aft of the bulkhead. The aircraft's wing ribs will also be made from CFRP. Section 19 will be one of the largest and most com plex CFRP parts yet produced by Airbus. Also to be made from CFRP are the hori zontal stabiliser and vertical fin, flight-con trol surfaces and cabin floor crossbeams. The upper fuselage will be partly con structed from glassfibre/aluminum compos ite material glare, bringing the percentage of the A380's total structural weight accounted for by composites and hybrid materials to an unprecedented 25%. Other items that Airbus terms "major sys tems innovations" include bulbless external lighting, open avionics architecture and ethernet-based data communications, onboard electronic maintenance documen tation and logbook, onboard cockpit and cabin services information system and onboard oxygen generating system. The A380 will be the first airliner equipped with a hydraulic system pres surised to 35,000kPa (350 bar/5,0001b/in2) to reduce the weight of piping. The current standard pressure for airliners is 21,000kPa. US company Eaton will supply the engine- driven pumps, tubes, hoses and fittings. The overall power distribution system comprises two hydraulic and two electrical systems, and the flight controls are equipped with electro-hydraulic actuators, meaning an electrical back-up is available in case of hydraulic systems failure. The electrical system is variable fre quency and power distribution is con trolled by solid-state components, aimed at improving reliability and efficiency. The aircraft's fly-by-wire system will be TABLE 1: LAUNCHED A380 VERSIONS Capacity Maximum take-off weight Range (maximum payload) Service entry A38O-800 A380-800F 555 passengers I50t 560t 590t 14,800km 10,360km Spring 2006 2008 TABLE 2: A380 ORDERS AND COMMITMENTS Air France Emirates FedEx LFC Lufthansa Qantas Airways Qatar Airways Singapore Airlines Virgin Atlantic 10xA380-800 20 x A380-800, 2 x A380-800F 10xA380-800F 10xA380-800 15 x A380-800 12xA380-800 2x A380-800 10xA380-800 6 x A380-800 Total (nine customers) 97 TABLE 3: SELECTED RISK-SHARING PARTNERS TO DATE* BAE Systems CTRM Eurocopter EADS EADS Socata EADS Sogerma Various wing components Wing leading-edge access panels Doors Various airframe components Various airframe components Fuselage sections MircaDin Alenia Belairbus Sysl Eurocopt Sc Sc Finavitec Fokker Gamesa GKN Fuji Heavy Industries "Jamco Labinal Latecoere RUAG Saab Sabca Sonaca ' turnisnmgs/air-ouct systems Central fuselage modules Slats/slat track system c leadings airfrarr airfrarr secti Wing spoilers Fuselage/wing parts Fuselage components Flap track beams Fin leading/trailing edges Upper deck floor carbon crossbeams Fan cowl/electrical architecture Lower forward fuselage Various airframe components Fixed leading edges (wing) Centre lower fuselage Moving leading edges (wing) "In some cases, such as Fuji and Jamco in Japan, Airbus includes non-revenue-sharing subcontractors as risk-sharing, if they are invest ing in their own production tooling, despite not taking a formal stake in the programme used to reduce the loading on the horizon tal stabiliser, and therefore drag, by relax ing aerodynamic stability margins. In addi tion, the distribution of fuel in the wings will be controlled to provide optimum "bending relief". Airbus also decided the passenger cabin doors will be opened and closed with the assistance of electro-mechanical actuators. Manufacturing advances include laser- beam welding - recently introduced during production of the A318 - which will be used to attach stringers to the skin of the A380's lower fuselage. Airbus executive vice-president manu facturing, Gerhard Eisen, says laser beam welding will make "a significant contribu tion to cost and weight savings". Other innovations include automating assembly of the CFRP centre wing box and J employing high-performance rotating cut- c ting tools to produce other A380 parts. These tools can be used for all metal and composite materials and can shape com plex parts with thin walls because cutting forces are lower compared with conven tional cutting tools. To minimise development and produc tion costs, each part was reviewed on a "make or buy" basis, says Humbert, which led to Airbus's own factories being "chal lenged" to compete for work against out side suppliers. A key requirement is "to try to reduce jigs and tools to a minimum" to cut pro duction costs, says Humbert. Using flexible, laser-guided tools means only software changes will be needed to start production of parts for other planned A380 variants such as the freighter and the stretched variant. "This is the real advan tage," says Humbert. Savings The savings from introducing new manu facturing techniques to reduce tooling are not only attractive for the A380 pro gramme, with its relatively low planned production rate of four aircraft a month. "The driving factor is that we save on every programme," says Humbert. "We will use the new projects [such as the A380] to introduce new aircraft-manufac turing technology." The decision to go ahead with long standing plans to construct a substantial portion of the A380's upper fuselage from Fokker Aerostructures-developed Glare rep resents a marked achievement for Airbus's engineers. The green light follows an exhaustive test and evaluation programme to make sure the lightweight alumin ium/glassfibre sandwich panels will be able to withstand the rigours of airline service. A full-size test fuselage panel was produced as part of the evaluation and another was flown on a German air force A310. Key attractions of glare include its rela tively high damage tolerance, improved corrosion resistance, light weight and improved fire resistance compared with traditional aluminium alloys. Airbus executive vice-president engineering, Alain Garcia, says that following the tests, "we thought that we were ready and we presented [Glare] to programme management". The CFRP centre wing box is also an ambitious undertaking, given the fact that the assembly - measuring about 7 x 8 x 2.4m (23 x 26 x 8ft) - is equivalent in size to a small apartment. "The basic technology is known," says Garcia, but the size of the box and its com plexity meant "we had to develop a method to get the right product in time". 54 16-22 JULY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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