Session: 01-01-01: General Topics of Aerospace Structures

Paper Number: 110022

110022 - Aeroelastic Tailoring Building a Global Partnership 

The Aeroelastic Tailoring Cooperation initiated by Embraer in mid-2014 has been a springboard to generate innovative theories, computational methods, solution techniques and numerical simulations as well as experimental procedures, encompassing a wide range of disciplines in aircraft design. The unique cooperation was conceived with the aim of addressing challenging problems in the design of composite aircraft, including aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, structures, optimization. The proposed project, being truly multidisciplinary by its very nature, has brought together internationally recognized experts from various disciplines and from industry and research institutions (almost 35 researchers and engineers during the 1^st phase - mid2014-end2019). Embraer harnessed and coordinated the efforts of all participating partners.

During the yearly workshops, of international conference quality, the progress made, and the milestones achieved were reviewed with significant inroads made. They were held in Torino (2015), Seoul (2016), Delft (2017), Swansea (2018) and Belo Horizonte/São José dos Campos (Brazil) (2019). As a byproduct of the project-development meetings during the workshops, enrichments of new ideas and potential opportunities took place in an unprecedented way to generate new knowledge which resulted in several astonishingly successful outcomes of doctoral and post-doctoral research (more than 15 doctoral theses).

One of the most interesting features of the project has been the unification and cross fertilization of fundamental and applied research in the context of aeroelastic considerations in composite aircraft design. Unlike many other cooperation projects that ask questions for short term problems and prefer quick and approximate answers, the group is interested in mixing applied research of immediate relevance to longer term R&D questions to pave the way to the application of future technologies. The cooperation group is also very receptive to new ideas and does not impose barriers, such as certification or production issues, too early to the lines of enquiry. A network of collaborators and actively fostered interactions between all the partners, which, again, is a very positive idea of long-term ideas, solutions and productivity. The creation of the common research benchmark model has been a fantastic enabler for research, bringing it to the reality of the industry and making the exchange of data very easy. The benchmark model constitutes an unparalleled and invaluable database.

It is an ideal example and testimony of how industry, academia and research institutions can collaborate and work together to achieve their desired objectives by using cutting-edge technologies. It created an environment where we can learn from each other and make a real impact on the future of commercial aviation.

Participants: researchers from University of Bristol, City Univ. London, Cranfield University, DLR, Hanyang University, J2W Consulting, University of Liège, Politecnico di Torino, Swansea University, TUDelft and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais-UFMG; engineers from the Aeroelastic Tailoring R&D project from Embraer.

References – some published papers:

[1] Silva, G.H.C, do Prado, A.P., Cabral, P.H., De Breuker, R., Dillinger, J.K.S. Tailoring of a Composite Regional Jet Wing using the Slice and Swap Method, Journal of Aircraft (2019) 56(3):990-1004

[2] Othman, M.F., Silva, G.H.C., Cabral, P.H., Prado, A.P., Pirrera, A., Cooper, J.E., A robust and reliability-based aeroelastic tailoring framework for composite aircraft wings, Composite Structures 208 (2019) 101-113

[3] Scarth, C., Adhikari, S., Cabral, P.H., Silva, G.H.C., Prado, A.P., Random field simulation over curved surfaces: Applications to computational structural mechanics, Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 345 (2019) 283-301

[4] Crovato, A., Almeida, H.S., Vio, G., Silva, G.H.C., Prado, A.P., Breviglieri, C., Güner, H., Cabral, P.H., Boman, R., Terrapon, V.E., Dimitriadis, G., Effect of levels of fidelity on steady aerodynamic and static aeroelastic computations, MDPI, Aerospace 2020, 7, 42

[5] Cabral, P.H., Carrera, E., Santos, H.E.A.A. dos, Galeb, P.H.G., Pagani, A., Peeters, D., Prado, A.P., Experimental and numerical vibration correlation of pre-stressed laminated reinforced panel, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 29(15):2165-2175

Presenting Author: Pedro Higino Cabral Embraer S.A.

Presenting Author Biography: • Principal R&D Engineer at Embraer; Mechanical Engineer Specialist in Structures and Dynamics with an Extensive Experience in the Aeronautical Sector; • Research and Technology Development in Structures and Dynamics (Finite Element Modeling, Solid Modeling), Aeroelastic Tailoring, Multidisciplinary Design Optimization, Concurrent Engineering; • Management of Specialists, based on Leadership, Innovation, Continuous Improvement and Back to Basics.
In 2011, we started building an international collaborative R&D project in the area of design, sizing, and optimization of composite wings. The project, known as Aeroelastic Tailoring and ATED, Aeroelastic Tailoring Enabled Design, lately, was successfully introduced into a preliminary design Embraer project resulting in an outstanding lightweight wing-box design. Since the beginning, we have been working in a strength and synergistic closer collaboration with academia, creating the opportunity to develop and investigate new methods for the research community with applications to the aeronautic industry.

Authors:

Pedro Higino Cabral Embraer S.A.
Alex P. Do Prado EMBRAER S.A.