Aerospace Engineering Research

The only way to create highly sophisticated, secure aviation systems that meet market demands is to use interdisciplinary modeling tools throughout the product lifecycle, from concept to operation and maintenance. Leading aircraft manufacturers strive to increase the performance of aircraft engines while meeting environmental regulations without harming the environment.

Aerospace industry trends that will evolve in the near future:

• jet engine technology;
• autonomous systems;
• components manufactured using additive technologies;
• maintenance, repair and operation.

Together, these trends in aircraft construction are shaping a trend towards increasing complexity of flight control systems.

The transition of aviation to electric motors will make it possible to forget about such a concept as “aircraft refueling”

The only way to create highly sophisticated, secure aviation systems that meet market demands is to use interdisciplinary modeling tools throughout the product lifecycle, from concept to operation and maintenance. All of these tools are available in the ANSYS Comprehensive Simulation Environment.

So, the main trends in aircraft construction for the near future:

1. Reduce flight costs and emissions with electric and hybrid engines

Electric and hybrid aircraft engines will reduce costs and emissions

Leading aircraft manufacturers strive to increase the performance of aircraft engines while meeting environmental regulations without harming the environment.

In other words, engines must produce more power while using less fuel. To this end, engineers are optimizing combustion engines to increase their efficiency, as well as developing hybrid and all-electric propulsion systems.

Particular attention will be paid to the aeroacoustics of the engines, since the flights of drones and urban air transport will also take place over residential areas.

When developing new aircraft systems, engineers will need to study in more detail the behavior and efficiency of materials, batteries, inverters, cables, software and electronic control circuits in high-altitude flight conditions. Multidisciplinary modeling will enable engineers to consider all of these factors when designing electric and hybrid aircraft engines.

2. Autonomous flights – a new stage in the development of the aerospace industry

Autonomous drones are the future of aviation

Autonomous flight systems are another major trend in the aerospace industry. Autonomous control technologies will be implemented in both drones and spacecraft.

As any science fiction fan knows, autonomous control systems are the key to the era of space tourism. Despite the fact that people had already launched probes into space, they were extremely vulnerable in unforeseen situations. If the probe needed the help of the control center, it could take hours, and sometimes days, to transmit signals to the Earth and back. During this time, the probe could be destroyed.

On the planet, airlines are already developing a business case for local air traffic systems connecting nearby regional airports. This type of transportation is beneficial because it allows you to reduce the crew, leaving only the pilot, or, moreover, to replace the pilot with an autonomous system with artificial intelligence.

A single-pilot aircraft requires a high level of automation as well as a complete renovation of the cockpit. To design a new cab, engineers can use:

• ANSYS SCADE – embedded software optimization tool;
• ANSYS optical simulation tools to ensure the pilot can view all control panel elements in all weather conditions.

To develop fully autonomous aircraft, engineers need to simulate sensors, control software, and artificial intelligence algorithms in a closed loop. Virtual reality and interdisciplinary modeling tools will test autonomous piloting systems and ensure their timely and adequate response to any situation.

3. Maintenance, repair and operation of new aviation technologies will be carried out based on simulation data

The future of aircraft maintenance is impossible without simulation

The market for aircraft maintenance and repair services is actively developing due to the increase in the number of aircraft and the complexity of their assembly.

Many airlines currently spend a significant portion of their budget on unplanned aircraft maintenance. Synchronizing maintenance cycles will allow engineers to minimize the costs associated with aircraft downtime.

That is why the aircraft of the new generation, unlike the previous ones, provide significantly more data that can be used to predict the operation of systems and identify problems. Predictive maintenance is already generating significant savings for airlines.

However, such forecasting is not always effective for new generation systems, since it is based on previously obtained statistical data. The aviation industry cannot wait 10 years to accumulate enough data for predictive maintenance, so these gaps need to be filled by simulating technical failures and outages using numerical modeling tools.

4. Additive technologies make aircraft parts stronger and lighter

Topological optimization and additive technologies will allow you to lighten elements and combine multiple parts into one

The introduction of additive technologies (AT) is another trend in the aerospace industry. The prospect of manufacturing metal parts using the additive method is of great interest to engineers. Experts understand that additive manufacturing combined with topology optimization can bring the industry even more benefits than reducing weight, as it allows you to combine several parts into one.

By combining parts, engineers can reduce assembly time and cost. In addition, the small number of parts and their light weight will simplify the process of maintenance and save on fuel. Additive technologies will also allow parts to be manufactured as needed, so the supply chain will work more efficiently.

However, the main problem of using AT, in addition to certification, is the search for highly qualified specialists. The printing process of the product must be calculated so as to avoid warpage and residual stress, and to reduce the number of supports to a minimum. Unoptimized printing processes will lead to a large number of rejects, waste of precious time and money, so manual print optimization is far from the most acceptable way.

In short, manufacturing parts with AT is not easy. Simulation tools such as the ANSYS Additive Suite are required to optimize the printing process.

5. Increasing the level of complexity of aviation systems requires complex interdisciplinary modeling

All of the above trends are in one way or another associated with an increase in the level of complexity of systems. High complexity is associated with high risks, which can lead to a large investment of time and money.

Aircraft design and optimization is a challenge that involves many aspects of physics

Multidisciplinary modeling plays a significant role in solving these complex problems and reducing risks. In interdisciplinary modeling, the results of calculations from different aspects of physics interact and sometimes influence each other. This means that engineers will be able to get a complete picture of the systems operation in real conditions.

However, the industry is strongly tied to well-established design and modeling techniques. Separate engineering groups focus on different areas of physics, and the exchange of data between them is difficult. This isolated approach to design is no longer relevant when creating more complex new generation aircraft systems.

Moving to interdisciplinary computing is a new way of thinking, and not all companies are ready to embrace it yet. However, its benefits have already been demonstrated in many space-related startups. Companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX have achieved incredible success in just a few years, creating strong competition for market leaders.

The challenges associated with developing more complex equipment cannot be solved by creating many separate models. Therefore, multidisciplinary modeling is the only sure way to speed up the development and testing phases.