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1 – 10 of over 20000
Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Liang Cheng, Qing Wang, Jiangxiong Li and Yinglin Ke

The aim of this paper is to present a new variation modeling method for fuselage structures in digital large aircraft assembly. The variation accumulated in a large aircraft…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present a new variation modeling method for fuselage structures in digital large aircraft assembly. The variation accumulated in a large aircraft assembly process will influence the dimensional accuracy and fatigue life of airframes. However, in digital large aircraft assembly, variation analysis and modeling are still unresolved issues.

Design/methodology/approach

An elastic structure model based on beam elements is developed, which is an equivalent idealization of the actual complex structure. The stiffness matrix of the structure model is obtained by summing the stiffness matrices of the beam elements. For each typical stage of the aircraft digital assembly process, including positioning, coordinating, joining and releasing, variation models are built using the simplified structure model with respective loads and boundary conditions.

Findings

Using position errors and manufacturing errors as inputs, the variations for every stage of the assembly process can be calculated using the proposed model.

Practical implications

This method has been used in a large fuselage section assembly project, and the calculated results were shown to be a good prediction of variation in the actual assembly.

Originality/value

Although certain assumptions have been imposed, the proposed method provides a better understanding of the assembly process and creates an analytical foundation for further work on variation control and tolerance optimization.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2018

Liang Cheng, Qing Wang, Jiangxiong Li and Yinglin Ke

This paper aims to present a modeling and analysis approach for multi-station aircraft assembly to predict assembly variation. The variation accumulated in the assembly process…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present a modeling and analysis approach for multi-station aircraft assembly to predict assembly variation. The variation accumulated in the assembly process will influence the dimensional accuracy and fatigue life of airframes. However, in digital large aircraft assembly, variation propagation analysis and modeling are still unresolved issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an elastic structure model and variation model of multistage assembly in one station, the propagation of key characteristics, assembly reference and measurement errors are introduced. Moreover, the reposition and posture coordination are considered as major aspects. The reposition of assembly objects in a different assembly station is described using transformation and blocking of coefficient matrix in finite element equation. The posture coordination of the objects is described using homogeneous matrix multiplication. Then, the variation propagation model and analysis of large aircraft assembly are established using a discrete system diagram.

Findings

This modeling and analysis approach for multi-station aircraft assembly reveals the basic rule of variation propagation between adjacent assembly stations and can be used to predict assembly variation or potential dimension problems at a preliminary assembly phase.

Practical implications

The modeling and analysis approaches have been used in a transport aircraft project, and the calculated results were shown to be a good prediction of variation in the actual assembly.

Originality/value

Although certain simplifications and assumptions have been imposed, the proposed method provides a better understanding of the multi-station assembly process and creates an analytical foundation for further work on variation control and tolerance optimization.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 38 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Prabhugouda M. Patil

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of surface mass transfer on the steady mixed convection flow from a vertical stretching sheet in a parallel free stream with…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of surface mass transfer on the steady mixed convection flow from a vertical stretching sheet in a parallel free stream with variable wall temperature and concentration.

Design/methodology/approach

An implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearisation technique is employed to obtain non‐similar solutions of the governing boundary layer equations for momentum, temperature and concentration fields.

Findings

The numerical results are reported here to display the effects of mixed convection parameter, ratio of buoyancy forces, surface mass transfer (suction and injection), the ratio of free stream velocity to the composite reference velocity, Prandtl number and Schmidt number on velocity, temperature and concentration profiles as well as on skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number.

Research limitations/implications

Thermophysical properties of the fluid in the flow model are assumed to be constant except the density variations causing a body force term in the momentum equation. The Boussinesq approximation is invoked for the fluid properties to relate density changes, and to couple in this way the temperature and concentration fields to the flow field. The concentration of diffusing species is assumed to be very small in comparison with other chemical species far away from the surface. Hence the Soret and Dufour effects are neglected. The stretching sheet is assumed to be subject to a power‐law wall temperature as well as to a power‐law wall concentration, in a parallel free stream.

Practical implications

Convective heat and mass transfer over a vertical stretching sheet in a parallel stream is very important for various design of technological process are hot rolling, wire drawing, glass‐fiber paper production, both metal and polymer sheets, for instance, in cooling of an infinite metallic plate in a cooling bath, the boundary layer along material handling conveyors, etc.

Originality/value

The paper studies the combined effects of thermal and mass diffusion over a vertical stretching sheet with surface mass transfer.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2001

ZDZISŁAW HEJDUCKI and JULIUSZ MROZOWICZ

This paper presents and describes basic properties of construction work organization methods which use time couplings. In addition, fundamental methods of construction work…

Abstract

This paper presents and describes basic properties of construction work organization methods which use time couplings. In addition, fundamental methods of construction work organization, which enable the scheduling and synchronization of construction works and take into account several constraints encountered in practice, are also discussed.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2003

Stjepan Mišetić, Željko Pavlin, Milorad Mrakovčić and Vedran Jurić

Determining minimum water flows that will continuously run through a natural channel downstream of a water intake (Q0) is a multidisciplinary problem. It is, however, not…

Abstract

Determining minimum water flows that will continuously run through a natural channel downstream of a water intake (Q0) is a multidisciplinary problem. It is, however, not approached in a multidisciplinary way in most countries. This paper offers an overview of the main methods and proposes a practical and environmentally more acceptable way of determining the retained flow, namely the environmentally acceptable flow (EAF). It is proposed that until the conditions are created for use of more complex methods and/or biological response techniques, the EAF be defined by determining whether the retained flow is sufficient for sustaining and developing indigenous wildlife in the streams by ensuring of the essential living conditions for the bioindicator species. The proposed bioindicators are characteristic fish populations of a specific type of stream and stream reaches. Being the final link in the ecological food chain, fish species are reliable indicators of bioecological balance in a stream.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2019

Wenwu Han, Qianwang Deng, Wenhui Lin, Xuran Gong and Sun Ding

This study aims to present a model and analysis of automotive body outer cover panels (OCPs) assembly systems to predict assembly variation. In the automotive industry, the OCPs…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to present a model and analysis of automotive body outer cover panels (OCPs) assembly systems to predict assembly variation. In the automotive industry, the OCPs assembly process directly influences the quality of the automobile body appearance. However, suitable models to describe variation propagation of OCPs assembly systems remain unknown.

Design/methodology/approach

An adaptive state space model for OCPs assembly systems is introduced to accurately express variation propagation, including variation accumulation and transition, where two compliant deviations make impacts on key product characteristics (KPCs) of OCP, and the impacts are accumulated from welding process to threaded connection process. Another new source of variation from threaded connection is included in this model. To quantify the influence of variation from threaded connection on variation propagation, the threaded connection sensitivity matrix is introduced to build up a linear relationship between deviation from threaded connection and output deviation in KPCs. This matrix is solved by homogeneous coordinate transformation. The final deviation of KPCs will be transferred to ensure gaps and flushes between two OCPs, and the transition matrix is considered as a unit matrix to build up the transition relationship between different states.

Findings

A practical case on the left side body structure is described, where simulation result of variation propagation reveals the basic rule of variation propagation and the significant effect of variation from threaded connection on variation propagation of OCPs assembly system.

Originality/value

The model can be used to predict assembly variation or potential dimension problems at a preliminary assembly phase. The calculated results of assembly variation guide designers or technicians on tolerance allocation, fixture layout design and process planning.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 January 2009

S. Askari and M.H. Shojaeefard

The purpose of this paper is to show how flow over the airfoil comprising a cross flow fan has been solved by developing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. This research…

1419

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how flow over the airfoil comprising a cross flow fan has been solved by developing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. This research was going to find aerodynamic coefficients and static pressure distribution over the airfoil surfaces. The eccentric vortex motion observed earlier by other researchers in cross flow fan has been studied by numerical method. Also, the airfoil trailing vortex size variation by free stream and fan rotational speed has been surveyed.

Design/methodology/approach

Flow over the airfoil has been investigated by CFD. At the airfoil solid walls no slip condition (zero velocity) was applied. Re‐normalization group k‐ε model was used for turbulence modeling. The pressure‐velocity coupling was calculated by the SIMPLEC algorithm. Second‐order upwind discretization was considered for the convection terms. Finite volume method with rectangular computational cells was used for whole the solution domain.

Findings

CFD predicted lift force was in good agreement with experimental data with the error of 8.26 percent, while the error of thrust prediction was 14.17 percent. Both errors are generally acceptable for an engineering application. Some key flow features observed previously by experiments has also been reproduced by simulation, notably motion of the eccentric and trailing vortices. At low‐fan rotational speed, the eccentric vortex formed below the shaft of the fan but at high‐rotational speed, eccentric vortex came up and moved toward the airfoil leading edge. It was shown that increasing free stream velocity or decreasing fan rotational speed leads to a larger trailing vortex and vice versa. It was showed that the airfoil lift and thrust are highly depended on the fan rotational speed. These forces will increase by enhancing the fan rotational speed.

Research limitations/implications

Because of complicated geometry of the airfoil, 2D analysis of the flow over the airfoil has been carried out. This simplification leads to higher discrepancies between experimental data and numerical solution.

Practical implications

This paper provides a detailed study of the Fanwing airfoil. This airfoil is very new and researches in this area are very limited. So, this paper can be helpful for other researches involved in this topic as well as aerospace industries.

Originality/value

This paper is valuable for researchers in the new and up‐to‐date concept of the airfoil comprising a cross flow fan (Fanwing airfoil). This work is original.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 81 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 December 2022

Srinivas M.V.V., Mudragada Hari Surya, Devendra Pratap Singh, Pratibha Biswal and Sathi Rajesh Reddy

The purpose of this study is to explore the mist-air film cooling performance on a three-dimensional (3-D) flat plate. In mist-air film cooling technique, a small amount of water…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the mist-air film cooling performance on a three-dimensional (3-D) flat plate. In mist-air film cooling technique, a small amount of water droplets is injected along with the coolant air. The objective is to study the influence of shape of the coolant hole and operating conditions on the cooling effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, 3-D numerical simulations are performed. To simulate the mist-air film cooling over a flat plate, air is considered as a continuous phase and mist is considered as a discrete phase. Turbulence in the flow is accounted using Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equation and is modeled using k–e model with enhanced wall treatment.

Findings

The results of this study show that, for cylindrical coolant hole, coolant with 5% mist concentration is not effective for mainstream temperatures above 600 K, whereas for fan-shaped hole, even 2% mist concentration has shown significant impact on cooling effectiveness for temperatures up to 1,000 K. For given mist-air coolant flow conditions, different trend in effectiveness is observed for cylindrical and fan-shaped coolant hole with respect to main stream temperature.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to a flat plate geometry with single coolant hole.

Practical implications

The motivation of this study comes from the requirement of high efficiency cooling techniques for cooling of gas turbine blades. This study aims to study the performance of mist-air film cooling at different geometric and operating conditions.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in studying the effect of parameters such as mist concentration, droplet size and blowing ratio on cooling performance, particularly at high mainstream temperatures. In addition, a systematic performance comparison is presented between the cylindrical and fan-shaped cooling hole geometries.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2009

Haixia Wang and Dariusz Ceglarek

Dimensional variation management is a major challenge in multi‐station sheet metal assembly processes involving complex products such as automotive body and aircraft fuselage…

Abstract

Purpose

Dimensional variation management is a major challenge in multi‐station sheet metal assembly processes involving complex products such as automotive body and aircraft fuselage assemblies. Very few studies have explored it at a preliminary design phase taking into consideration effects of part deformation on variation propagation, since early design phase involves the development of imprecise design models with scant or incomplete product and process knowledge. The objective of this paper is to present a variation model which can be built into the preliminary design phase taking into consideration all of the existing interactions between flexible parts and tools in multi‐station sheet metal assembly process.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper addresses this problem by first, presenting a beam‐based product and process model which shares the same data structure of the B‐Rep CAD models, and therefore can be embedded in CAD systems for automatic product skeletal design; second, determining the influence of part deformation, for various, differing joining and releasing schemes, on variation propagation; and third, utilizing this information to generate a vector‐based variation propagation model for multistation sheet metal assemblies.

Findings

This paper presents a beam‐based product and process model which shares the same data structure of the B‐Rep CAD models, and therefore can be embedded in CAD systems for automatic product skeletal design; determines the influence of part deformation, for various, differing joining and releasing schemes, on variation propagation; and utilizes this information to generate a vector‐based variation propagation model for multistation sheet metal assemblies.

Originality/value

A truck cab assembly is presented to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed model over the state‐of‐the‐art approach used in industry for sheet metal assemblies.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 February 2012

Hui Cheng, Run‐Xiao Wang, Yuan Li and Kai‐Fu Zhang

Assembly variations, which will propagate along the assembly process, are inevitable and difficult to analyze in Aeronautical Thin‐Walled Structures (ATWS) assembly. The purpose of

Abstract

Purpose

Assembly variations, which will propagate along the assembly process, are inevitable and difficult to analyze in Aeronautical Thin‐Walled Structures (ATWS) assembly. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for analyzing the variation propagation of ATWS with automated riveting.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper addresses the variation propagation model and method by first, forming a novel Stage‐State model to represent the process of automated riveting. Second, the effect of positioning error on assembly variation is defined as propagation variation (PV), and propagation matrix of key characteristic points (KCP) is discussed. Third, the effect between the variations in each stage is defined as expansion variation (EV). According to the analysis of mismatch error and the reference transformation, the expansion matrix is formed.

Findings

The model can solve the variation propagation problem of ATWS with automated riveting efficiently, which is shown as an example of this paper.

Practical implications

The variation obtained by the model and method presented in this paper is in conformity with the variation measured in experiments.

Originality/value

The propagation variation and expansion variation is proposed for the first time, and variations are studied according to novel propagation matrix and expansion matrix.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

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