Design for Value of FML Components: Example fuselage panels

FML (Fibre Metal Laminates) technology has potential for application on Single Aisle airplanes and associated technology development efforts are currently ongoing under Airbus leadership. Fokker (Papendrecht, the Netherlands), now a GKN Aerospace company, is the worlds most experienced producer of FML panels, and is involved in these developments as one of the participating partners. The aim of the presentation is to provide an update on some recent Fokker activities in this context of high volume application.

 

Because of its extensive FML production experience, Fokker is firstly contributing in the development of manufacturing technology and industrialisation. The presentation will address selected highlights of these developments.

 

Next, the presentation will focus on the second area of Fokker participation, which are the design activities. These aim to create Single Aisle panel designs that best suit the new application while incorporating the new manufacturing technologies. Here, Fokker is leveraging its experience with the detail design for the original A380-800 and A380 Freighter variant (later cancelled). Obviously, the objective is to create product designs that fulfil the design requirements (such as weight saving and design life), and that can be efficiently and reliably manufactured in volume and at sufficiently low cost.

 

Stated otherwise, the aim of design is to create value optimised design/manufacturing concepts that provide the required value for the customer at a price that is affordable for the supplier. The presentation will address how this will be achieved in practice at Fokker. The key lies in combining available design experience with the use of a set of dedicated design tools (called ADDET, A380opt and PANADEE) that cover the full range from aircraft conceptual design to panel detail design, and that connect to structural analysis as well as to detailed cost estimation models.