Dimensional control as an integral part of next-generation aircraft development

The next generation of both military and civil aircraft are now being desig ned and developed. Research undertaken by the authors has highlighted parti cular product and process characteristics that are becoming more critical i n the design and manufacturing processes of modern and future aircraft stru ctures. A particular requirement is for reduced assembly variation. This re quirement emerges, for example, from design strategies seeking to maximize the structural use of carbon fibre composite materials, from the increasing requirements for low observability in military aircraft and from the need for flight cruise efficiency in civil aircraft. Large companies such as Boe ing, McDonnell Douglas and BAE Systems and Industrie have all performed stu dies in dimensional control. One theme that emerges is that dimensional con trol must be exercised with design and manufacturing departments working in close partnership. This is particularly true when considering the introduc tion of advanced material technologies such as carbon fibre composites and in the application of automation to major aircraft subassemblies. Such chal lenges are found to occur across both military and civil sectors. This comm unication highlights some such challenges and identifies a seven-point resp onse for the basic technological infrastructure to support the deployment o f an effective dimensional control methodology as an integrated part of the next-generation aircraft product development process. Further work is in p rogress on detailing and demonstrating such a methodology.