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Optimization of fastener pattern in airframe assembly

Sergey Lupuleac (SPbPU, Sankt-Peterburg, Russian Federation)
Tatiana Pogarskaia (Department of Applied Mathematics, SPbPU, Sankt-Peterburg, Russian Federation)
Maria Churilova (SPbPU, Sankt-Peterburg, Russian Federation)
Michael Kokkolaras (McGill University, Montreal, Canada)
Elodie Bonhomme (Airbus SAS, Blagnac, France)

Assembly Automation

ISSN: 0144-5154

Article publication date: 24 June 2020

Issue publication date: 15 September 2020

246

Abstract

Purpose

The authors consider the problem of optimizing temporary fastener patterns in aircraft assembly. Minimizing the number of fasteners while maintaining final product quality is one of the key enablers for intensifying production in the aerospace industry. The purpose of this study is to formulate the fastener pattern optimization problem and compare different solving approaches on both test benchmarks and rear wing-to-fuselage assembly of an Airbus A350-900.

Design/methodology/approach

The first considered algorithm is based on a local exhaustive search. It is proved to be efficient and reliable but requires much computational effort. Secondly, the Mesh Adaptive Direct Search (MADS) implemented in NOMAD software (Nonlinear Optimization by Mesh Adaptive Direct Search) is used to apply the powerful mathematical machinery of surrogate modeling and associated optimization strategy. In addition, another popular optimization algorithm called simulated annealing (SA) was implemented. Since a single fastener pattern must be used for the entire aircraft series, cross-validation of obtained results was applied. The available measured initial gaps from 340 different aircraft of the A350-900 series were used.

Findings

The results indicated that SA cannot be applicable as its random character does not provide repeatable results and requires tens of runs for any optimization analysis. Both local variations (LV) method and MADS have proved to be appropriate as they improved the existing fastener pattern for all available gaps. The modification of the MADS' search step was performed to exploit all the information the authors have about the problem.

Originality/value

The paper presents deterministic and probabilistic optimization problem formulations and considers three different approaches for their solution. The existing fastener pattern was improved.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The results of the work are obtained using computational resources of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Supercomputing Center (www.spbstu.ru).This research work was supported by the Academic Excellence Project 5-100 proposed by Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

Citation

Lupuleac, S., Pogarskaia, T., Churilova, M., Kokkolaras, M. and Bonhomme, E. (2020), "Optimization of fastener pattern in airframe assembly", Assembly Automation, Vol. 40 No. 5, pp. 723-733. https://doi.org/10.1108/AA-03-2019-0040

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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