New EU project gets under way in aircraft design

The aim is to pull in all the expertise needed to design aircraft control systems at the earliest stages of the process, thus reducing wasted effort on faulty designs.

The project, “Simulating aircraft stability and control characteristics for use in conceptual design” (SimSAC), has a budget of €5.1 million, with €3.3 million provided by the European Commission.

“New aeroplanes must meet rigorous requirements for energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, aviation safety, and high performance at a low operational cost. Early multidisciplinary work that is followed up throughout the developmental process is an indispensable tool,” says Arthur Rizzi, professor at the Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, in Sweden, one of those behind the project and now coordinating it.

Currently, control systems are usually constructed only after the main features of the plane have been determined. By including the control system earlier in the development process, it is hoped to increase the chances of getting the design right the first time.

“Up to 80 per cent of the total cost of an aeroplane’s life cycle is set during the early design phase, so mistakes are expensive,” says Rizzi. “Faulty assumptions about stability and control lead to costly and failed test flights. This can involve the loss of prototypes and, in the worst case, human life. To  minimise risks, multidisciplinary analyses should be introduced early in the developmental process, and decisions should be based more on simulations than on empirical data.

In total 17 representatives of the European academic community and the aeronautics industry from nine countries will collaborate in SimSAC.