Xincai Tan

Life cycle cost modeling for aircraft wing using object-oriented systems engineering approach

Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is an important issue for aircraft design, and can be used for the development of trade studies. An Object-Oriented System Engineering (OOSE) approach has been developed to establish a LCC model architecture, and a bottom-up approach is adopted to conduct cost estimation. The established LCC model can represent the impact of technology, and can be supplemented by increasing the fidelity functional sub-models. The developed model is generic, and as such can be easily transferable for applications in other disciplines. Copyright

Modelling Energy Absorption in Textile Composite Cellular Structures

Cellular structure is one of the energy absorption efficient structures which is used in various engineering fields including aerospace. To develop effective textile composite cellular structures, understanding mechanisms of the energy absorption for these structures is an essential requirement. In this paper, energy absorption in various textile composite cellular structures under quasi static impact on in-plane is investigated through three dimensional finite element analysis. Two sets of cellular structures with either different cell wall lengths or different opening angles are modelled to examine their effects on energy absorption. The predicted results show that the energy absorption for the outer surface of a given structure which is directly impacted is always higher than that for the inner surface. The magnitude of energy absorption depends significantly on the types of structures, such as with different opening angles, or different cell wall lengths.

Risk Analysis in Lifecycle Costing of Aluminium

Aluminium is extensively applied in aerospace industry, however, uncertainties lie in all activities of its production. In this paper, risk assessment for cost estimates in aluminium lifecycle is investigated. Through the in-house module, COSTLIPS (COSTing Life-cycle In material ProcesseS), probabilities of typical processes for aluminium production are estimated. Approach of probability distribution functions and three-point estimates is used to estimate statistical parameters of the costs for different processes. Example results show that the COSTLIPS can be used for costing of aluminium production processes including risk analysis. This would be useful for material selection and evaluation in aircraft design and manufacture in term of cost estimation. Copyright