At every stage, for virtually every component, a major rethink is
required. Manufacturing wing panels for the forthcoming A380 Airbus that is
longer than even a Boeing 747 for example, was the problem faced by Yorkshire
engineering consultants Bennett Associates.
The design of the aluminium skins that go to make up the 45m long
wings calls for them to be manufactured in one length. This allows the
aircraft's designers to reduce component weight whilst at the same time
achieving the necessary performance criteria. Welding or riveting panels
together would also create unacceptable areas of stress in the metal skin on a
wing of this size. Creep forming is the chosen method of manufacture - a process
that creates a formed finished skin with very little inherent stress.
The process itself does however bring its own problems in
predicting the exact dimensions of the finished component when released from the
tool. With an item the size of the A380 Airbus wing skin the predictions become
even more difficult. To overcome the problem Bennett Associates has designed
adjustable creep-forming tooling that will allow compensations to be made during
production trials prior to the start of first article manufacture.
Bennett Associates has not only designed the creep-forming tooling
but also the entire component handling and manufacturing system for the wing
skins at the purpose built facility at the Airbus site at Broughton, Chester.
M G Bennett and Associates Ltd is now part of the
Group
