• High Lift devices
• Catia 5
• Digital Mock-Up

The thesis was carried out in several departments of the Airbus Bremen site. The main ones being the following:
• ESGDL3 - kinematics department
• ESGDL5 - sizing and design department
• ESGZI1 - DMU (Digital Mock-up) department
The aim of the work was to follow the standard mechanical design process as intended in an aeronautical industry all along its different phases, participating at it at several different steps and levels.
Generally, the design of a part, or of the aircraft as a whole, starts in fact either from a new kinematical idea or from the will of a mechanical improvement. This requires an approach with a kinematical study at first. Afterwards, the problem is dealt via CAD systems, analytical tools for structural verification and FEM verification. Once the structural design is more or less defined, engineers proceed to the digital integration step. For big industries as the aeronautical ones, the digital integration, also called “Digital Mock-up”, plays a very important role. In the Airbus Company it allows a concurrent conception of the aircraft between the different Airbus sites all over Europe.
After an introduction to Airbus Industries and Airbus Bremen site in chapter 1, chapter 2 proceeds to a description of the A380 aircraft and its wing and wing’s main components.
Chapter 3 describes the kinematics study of A380 flap tracks, their actual configuration and their possible future development:-
• The first part (paragraph 3.3) deals with a preliminary study of a two tracks version towards a three tracks solution. In this context the purpose and the functioning modes of a flap-track are briefly described.
• In the paragraph 3.4 are analysed two applications of the new kinematics program TeflaMes. At the same time it is explained how the program works.
• At the end (paragraph 3.5) a preliminary trade-off is presented, for the selection of a new Kinematics solution which has been put forward by an important mechanical industry, MAN-T Industries that is already a contractor of Airbus Industries.
Airbus Germany normally entrusts a design task to subcontractors. Nevertheless, the design activity is followed all along from Airbus engineers, who finally state on its validity once it is achieved. Results are afterwards used as an input for further activities in the Manufacturing team.
In this context, chapter 4 carries out the verification of a sizing study performed on an A380 Flap-track pivot tube by the Austrian company FACC (Fischer Advanced Composite Components), selected as contractor for the Pivot tubes and Fairings. FACC is a joint company of Fischer GmbH and Oesterreichische Salinen AG, leading in the design and manufacture of composite products for the aerospace industry:-
• The first part, after an introduction to the pivot tube geometry and functionalities (paragraph 4.3.1), consists of the analytical study verification.
• In the second part, the CAD/CAE approach is described. The work is carried out using the Catia v.5 program.
Finally, chapter 5 can be divided in two parts:-
1. The first three paragraphs include :-
• Introduction to ESGZ department and in particular to ESGZI1 team.
• Description of the Airbus Concurrent Engineering approach.
• What is the Product Life Cycle and how the DMU team is involved in it.
2. In the second part :-
• Paragraph 5.4.4 presents the Airbus IT tool situation.
• Paragraph 5.5 focuses on DMU team working platform, and it describes the programs normally used from the team.
• Paragraph 5.6 analyses a dVMockup2000i²(dVise) application, focusing on the clash detection with the study of some real clash cases detected on the flaps and slats of the A380 aircraft, and the explaining at the same time a few functional tools of the program.
• Paragraph 5.7, describes how the DMU review takes place. This review is an important meeting, during which the DMU team presents the overall current status of a given part of the DMU aircraft making use of real time visualization (dVise context) and showing alternative design solutions to the responsible designers.
• Paragraph 5.8, draws the conclusions of the DMU successful work in the context of A380 and A400M projects.
The last chapter, the number 6, points out the conclusions about the whole thesis.