Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
a
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
b
School of Mechatronic Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
KEYWORDS Abstract A nite element parametric modeling method of aircraft wing structures is proposed in
Finite element model; this paper because of time-consuming characteristics of nite element analysis pre-processing. The
Geometric mesh model; main research is positioned during the preliminary design phase of aircraft structures. A knowledge-
Knowledge; driven system of fast nite element modeling is built. Based on this method, employing a template
Parametric modeling; parametric technique, knowledge including design methods, rules, and expert experience in the
Skeleton model; process of modeling is encapsulated and a nite element model is established automatically, which
Template; greatly improves the speed, accuracy, and standardization degree of modeling. Skeleton model,
Wing
geometric mesh model, and nite element model including nite element mesh and property data
are established on parametric description and automatic update. The outcomes of research show
that the method settles a series of problems of parameter association and model update in the pro-
cess of nite element modeling which establishes a key technical basis for nite element parametric
analysis and optimization design.
2013 Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CSAA & BUAA.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
1. Introduction and practical value that can improve product quality and
performance, reduce production costs, shorten design cycle,
Computer-aided engineering analysis based on the nite and so on.1
element (FE) method is recognized to be a very effective FE modeling is data pre-processing for FE analysis. The
numerical simulation and optimization technique in the eld calculation accuracy of the FE method depends on the degree
of aircraft design. It has important guiding signicance of approximation of physical characteristics of the model and
its real structure. Therefore, establishing a correct and reason-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 82316747. able FE model is the most important issue to carry out FE
E-mail addresses: roshking@163.com (J. Tang), xipingi@buaa. analysis and optimization. However, there is an encountered
edu.cn (P. Xi), drunkenst@163.com (B. Zhang). problem that a signicant amount of time and workforce is
Peer review under responsibility of Editorial Committee of CJA. required for creation and modication of the FE model. In
addition, it is one of the major difculties in application of
the FE method. Therefore, high-quality and automated FE
modeling has been an important direction of research on
Production and hosting by Elsevier
aircraft structural FE technique.2
1000-9361 2013 Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of CSAA & BUAA. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2013.07.019
A nite element parametric modeling technique of aircraft wing structures 1203
In the process of FE modeling, a variety of templates in de- 3.2. The process description of component creation
sign are associated with coupling organically caused by data
stream formed among templates. Thus, when the input param- The geometric characteristics of wing structure is determined
eters of upstream design change, all relevant aspects of down- by the region boundary denition and the internal layout char-
stream design automatically adjust to match this change. acteristics of the structure is usually determined by positions
and other parameters of the components such as spars, ribs,
3. Parametric layout of wing structure and stringers.7
The internal components and the layout manner of wing
Structural design of an aircraft wing requires a layout of spars, structure can be dened as the following forms:
ribs, and stringers based on the reference plane of the wing and
generation of a skeleton model of wing structure. Skeleton <structure layout>::=(<spar>, <rib>, [stringer],
model, the backbone of the model design, is an assembly de- {<station plane>, <axis>, [web surface]})
sign model with multi-rank abstract levels, signied with geo- <layout manner of spar>::=(<in proportion>)
metric elements of points, lines, surfaces, and all kinds of <layout manners of rib>::=(<parallel aircraft symmetry
benchmarks in CATIA. Skeleton model includes station axis>, <parallel a certain rib station plane>, <perpen-
planes, axes, web surfaces, and other structure layout informa- dicular to spar>)
tion of components. <layout manners of stringer>::=(<in proportion>,
<parallel spar station plane>, <parallel a certain stringer
3.1. Structural layout denition station plane>)
The simplest possible parametric coordinate system is used for The wing structure layout can be generated based on the
the purpose of specifying positions of wing structural compo- reference plane (z = 0). Structural parameters of the compo-
nents.4 This coordinate system is shown in Fig. 3. nents are dened and the process of the components creation
The parametric coordinates are as follows: c is the chord- is as follows8,9:
wise coordinate (0 at the leading edge (LE), 1 at the trailing
edge (TE)); s the spanwise coordinate (0 at the root, 1 at the (1) Spar is assumed to be continuous from the top airfoil
tip); z the thickness coordinate (+1 at the airfoil top surface, surface to the bottom airfoil surface.
1 at the airfoil bottom surface). (a) The start, section point, and end position of a spar
All position references for structural components must be are specied in terms of the parametric coordi-
linked to this parametric coordinate system or specied rela- nates P(c, s) and the connecting line of all points is
tively to other structural components.5,6 Thus, the positions the axis of the spar.
and orientations must be stated in one of the following (b) Determine station plane based on the axis and ref-
manners: erence plane.
(c) Station plane and the top or bottom airfoil surface
(1) Parametric coordinate positions P(c, s, z). intersect separately, and then the intersection area
(2) Positions relative to other structural elements (e.g., ribs is lled to generate a web surface of the spar.
parallel aircraft symmetry axis). (2) Rib is also assumed to be continuous from the top airfoil
(3) Orientations relative to durable parametric geometric surface to the bottom airfoil surface.
references (e.g., parallel or perpendicular to a specic (a) Position is often dened by a spar or a certain
% chord line). rib. The rib station plane is always parallel to
(4) Orientations relative to other structural elements the aircraft symmetric axis at the junction of the
(e.g., parallel or perpendicular to a specic component). fuselage and the rest are mostly perpendicular to
the front or rear spar axis, or selected parallel to
a certain rib station.
(b) Station plane and the top or bottom airfoil surface
intersect separately, and then the intersection area
is lled to generate a web surface of the rib.
(c) Determine the start and end positions of a web
surface of the rib.
(3) Stringer is virtually identical to a spar except for a ag
specifying whether the stringer is on the top or bottom
surface of the airfoil.
(a) The start and end positions of a stringer are spec-
ied in terms of the parametric coordinates P(c, s)
or the station plane of a certain spar. The con-
necting line of all points is the axis of a stringer.
(b) Determine station plane based on the axis and ref-
erence plane.
(c) Station plane and the top or bottom airfoil surface
intersect separately to generate top and bottom
Fig. 3 Parametric coordinate system. airfoil surface stringers.
A nite element parametric modeling technique of aircraft wing structures 1205
3.4. Automated generation of skeleton model 4. Parametric design of geometric mesh model
The template parametric technique is used in the process of Geometric mesh model as a discrete form of skeleton model is
skeleton model generation. Knowledge including design meth- in an important status in FE modeling. A connection is estab-
ods, denition rules, and experiences used by designers in the lished between skeleton model and FE model.10 Based on geo-
process of modeling is encapsulated in a template. Program metric mesh model, properties of each element can be
drives CATIA to complete skeleton model generation auto- individually dened and viewed as optimization variables
matically. In the process of design, based on parameterization and check objects in the FE analysis and optimization.
of wing structure, the layout of new or similar parts can be car- Compatibility is required for FE mesh of an aircraft wing
ried out through data replacements and parameter modica- structure.11 If two components cross, on the line of the inter-
tions with the same template. Fig. 4 is the template of section, in order to ensure that the right combination of adja-
parametric modeling of skeleton model of horizontal wing cent curved surface patches mesh in combinatorial surfaces, it
structure. is necessary to guarantee the same discrete form on common
Before running the template, users need to pick up several boundary and FE mesh to be completely consistent. On the
upstream planes or surfaces of wing structure and input infor- line of the intersection, that is to say, nodes of the FE mesh
mation of the components in the template interface. Paramet- of two components must be coincident. Therefore, in order
ric modeling of spars, ribs, and stringers are rapidly completed to set up an FE model, starting from the untrimmed geometry,
in ve minutes for wingbox and less time for horizontal tail skeleton model produced by the structural design department
and other horizontal wing structures except for active wing needs mesh discretization.
parts. Skeleton model of a wingbox generated by the template The purpose of mesh discretization is to convert topological
as an example is shown in Fig. 5. The upper airfoil surface is relations to constraint relations of common edges and points
hidden for clearer demonstration. of the components in the skeleton model. A wing structure is
1206 J. Tang et al.
always a mesh element model constituted of components. ST = {S1,S2, . . .,Sm}. Combine SL and ST to form a set
There are various segmentation lines on skins and webs, such union SHL = {L1,L2,. . .,Lk+m}.
as spar or rib caps and stringers. These curves and boundary Step 3 Based on the intersection algorithm of curves, all
lines of surfaces divide the surfaces into small surfaces called the internal points of intersections are generated. Cut all
geometric mesh elements. All these small surfaces cannot be di- curves in SHL with these points and get a curve segments
vided. If two components cross and the line is l, the vertexes set SLG, which is the set of one-dimensional elements of
and edges of the geometric mesh elements of the two compo- wing structure.
nents overlap completely on the line. Step 4 SLG is able to encircle a closed loop and the ele-
Designers generally have to perform quite a lot of manual ments consisting of the closed loop are two-dimensional
work before a model geometry being ready for meshing. In mesh elements. Solve all of the corresponding mesh
particular, designers need to cut the surfaces of all model com- elements, completing the generation of two-dimensional
ponents along their intersections in order to produce sets of geometric mesh elements of aircraft wing structure.
surfaces that are suitable for meshing, such as surface segments
with no more than four edges and each edge matching with one
and only one edge of the adjacent surface segments.12 Fig. 6 4.2. Automatic generation of geometric mesh model
shows two examples of which one model has been properly
segmented and the other has problems. The process of skeleton model segmentation is well known to
be time expensive and often trivial. Besides, every time a
4.1. Geometric mesh model element generation process and change occurs in skeleton model topology, the segmentation
algorithm process has to be performed again. However, until the entire
model surfaces are properly segmented, the automatic meshing
Geometric mesh model of an aircraft wing structure includes functionalities provided by most of the FE preprocessors can-
two types of elements: one-dimensional and two-dimensional not be used. Nevertheless, the segmentation process features
elements.13 The generation process and algorithm of geometric some of favorable characteristics that make it a good candi-
mesh model elements are described as follows: date for KBE (knowledge-based engineering) applications:
lengthy, repetitive, and plenty of geometric manipulations
Step 1 Suppose M is a set of geometric surfaces of skele- based on logic mechanisms. In fact, designers apply a set of
ton model. Given a geometric curve surface F, according to mental rules and practices when manually performing the
the topological relationship of the components in skeleton segmentation process. Based on knowledge engineering in this
model, SL = {L1,L2,. . .,Lk}, the set of lines of intersections paper, rules and specialist experience are encapsulated in a
is obtained when M and F intersect. template. Geometric mesh model is generated which is driven
Step 2 Suppose a set of all top and bottom airfoil by program rapidly. The model produced by the template is
surface stringers on the geometric curve surface P is shown in Fig. 7.
Geometric mesh model is the premise and basis of FE
meshing. It has a great impact on the quality of the following
FE mesh.
Fig. 6 Geometric mesh model comparison. Fig. 7 Geometric mesh model of a wingbox.
A nite element parametric modeling technique of aircraft wing structures 1207
6. Conclusions
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