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Completion of the first full set of wing skins for the new
Airbus A380 'super-jumbo' this week marks a significant landmark for
Rotherham-based engineering consultants Bennett Associates.
The A380 will be the world's largest passenger aircraft when it
makes its first flight next year. It will carry 555 passengers - 140 more than
the biggest aircraft today - and will be nearly 80 metres long from nose to
tail. The main wings, which measure 45 metres along the leading edge, will be
built at a new factory opened last month at Broughton, North Wales, before being
transported to France where the complete aircraft are assembled.
The consultancy, based at Pleasley Road, Whiston, was responsible
for the top wing skin production system at the new factory, which forms and
handles panels of aluminium alloy from 5mm to 25mm thick, 23 metres to 33 metres
long and up to 2.5 metres wide. The cost was £7.7 million. As well as designing
the equipment, Bennetts also managed its manufacture and installation,
completing the project on time and under budget.
Each complete wing skin is produced in four sections, using a
process known as creep forming that results in very accurately shaped panels
with little alteration to their mechanical performance. 'Creep forming creates a
finished skin with very little inherent stress, which allows the designer to
minimise weight and achieve the required performance', explained John Wadsworth,
who managed the project for Bennetts.
The A380 creep forming tooling incorporates several innovative
features. For example, it can be adjusted to fine-tune the skin shapes, which
kept the transition from prototype to full production to a minimum. This feature
also allowed the tooling to be manufactured concurrently with the aerodynamic
design process at Airbus, which greatly reduced the overall project lead-time
from concept to production. Waiting for the wing design to be completed before
starting to manufacture the tooling would have greatly extended the schedule.
Bennetts also carried out intensive testing with suppliers of all
the manufacturing processes to ensure that profiles cut straight from the CAD
production drawings could go directly to a final laser profile check without the
need for full trial assembly or intermediate checks. This not only produced the
secure supply routes required by the project but also reduced lead-times and
costs.
The aerodynamic configuration data for the wing panels produced by
Airbus, using a specially developed predictive modelling application, had to be
manipulated to allow it to be transferred into Bennett's Catia V5 CAD software.
The company created its own computer programmes for this task.
As well as the creep forming tooling, Bennetts also designed and
project-managed the installation of systems for checking and handling the panels
before and after they are formed. Checking the form and edge profiles on the
A380 wing skins takes just one hour, whereas much smaller wing skins have
previously taken a day to check.
The facility, delivered to budget, is the first of its kind and
was taken from initial concepts to a production-ready unit in under two years',
said Mr Wadsworth. 'This is a major achievement when taking into account that
the completed final aerodynamic shape of the wing was being developed in
parallel with the manufacture and installation of the tooling'.
Other projects in which Bennett Associates have been involved
include the Channel Tunnel, the Falkirk Wheel, the Gateshead Millennium
Bridge and the world's largest coal
terminal in China.
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