The Future for Advanced Structural Materials and Computational Design

Frank Doerner,

Vice President – Materials, Processes & Structures Technologies

Boeing Research & Technology

05 October 2011

Discussion Topics

• Background

• Complexity driving costs and

development cycle time

• Computational methods applications

• Increased computational methods for

materials & structures

• Need holistic system

Key Drivers for Aerospace Structures

• Affordability

– Technology development costs

– Design and non-recurring costs

– Operations costs • Reduce weight - Lower fuel burn

• Maintenance - Repair

– Environmental – carbon footprint to

build, operate and dispose

• Performance

– Safety

– Payload & range

• Speed to market

– Leverage new technology

LU 2 in NDI

Aerospace Complexity

Complexity Driving Longer Development Cycles

Launch Order – 1990

Delivered – 1995

Launch Order – 2004

Delivered – 2011

Launch Order – 1978

Delivered – 1982

767

777

787

Complexity Drives Analysis Demands for

Airframe Structure

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Stress

Weights

M&P

Time

Non-recurring

Analysis

Hours / lb of

Airframe

Complexity Drives Increased Building Block

Testing to Provides Data for Structural Analysis

Analysis validation

Design-value

development

Material property

evaluation

Component

tests

Sub-component tests

Structural elements tests

Allowable development

Material specification development

Material screening and selection

Full-

scale

tests

Tier 1

Tier 3

Tier 2

1980s 2000s

2 2

15 2

2,500 25

10,000 500

100,000 5,000

~ size of structural test

programs

Major growth

in cost & time

Expanding Design Space is Rapidly Increasing

Complexity P

erf

orm

an

ce

(we

igh

t re

du

cti

on

)

Material Combinations, Fiber Orientations,

Manufacturing Techniques, . . .

Isotropic

“One Choice”

Today

100’s of

Choices “Billions”

of Choices

Traditional Structural

Methods & Tools Can’t

Keep Up with Expanding

Design Space

Going Forward

Computational Methods Widely Used in Other

Engineering Disciplines

Effort

Elapsed Time

90% Drawing Release

1990 1993

1997

2000

Computational Effect on Product Design Cycle

Certify and Qualify New Materials & Structures

Faster

Goal is to Provide a Modeling, Simulations and Analysis

Approach Supported by Experience, Test and Demonstration

Time to Insertion Readiness

Time to Insertion Readiness Reduced by 55%

A A A A A A

A A A A A A

Traditional Test Supported by Analysis Approach

Materials & structures designed, analyzed, and

qualified in digital form, with requirements driven by

system & life-cycle requirements

• Reduced time and cost

• Increased design space

• Increased performance

Constituent Design

Material Configurations

Element Design

Sub-Component Designs

Component Designs

• Material Development • Process Development

Molecular Modeling

Material Models

Computational Allowables

Failure Modeling

Virtual Testing & Sim

Computational Design Values

• Producibility • Accept/Reject

• NDT Standards

• Mechanical Props • Knock-downs • Environmental • Effects of Defects

• Structural Performance

• Damage Tolerance • Static & Fatigue • Analysis Validation

• Design Values • DaDT • Analysis Validation

Full Scale

• Static • GVT • Fatigue • Flight

Vehicle

Atoms to Aircraft – Applying Computational

Methods Down the Structural Value Chain

Constituent Design

Material Configurations

Element Design

Sub-Component Designs

Component Designs

• Material Development • Process Development

Molecular Modeling

Material Models

Computational Allowables

Failure Modeling

Virtual Testing & Sim

Computational Design Values

• Producibility • Accept/Reject • Assembly

• NDT Standards

• Mechanical Props • Knock-downs • Environmental • Effects of Defects

• Structural Performance

• Damage Tolerance • Static & Fatigue • Analysis Validation

• Design Values • DaDT • Analysis Validation

Full Scale

• Static • GVT • Fatigue • Flight

Vehicle

Atoms to Aircraft

0

0.03

0.06

0.09

0.12

0.15

0.18

0.21

0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2 0.22

Strain, in/in

Str

ess

, G

Pa

Simulation Experimental

Molecular Modeling & Predictive Laminate

Performance

Structural Materials also Need Multi-Functional

Performance

Electrical Thermal Acoustic

Structural

Manufacturing Processing Effects

• Producibility limits

• Inspection Standards

• Quality & Effects of Defects

• Process Tolerances

• Manufacturing Scale-up

• Assembly Tolerances

Constituent Design

Material Configurations

Element Design

Sub-Component Designs

Component Designs

• Material Development • Process Development

Molecular Modeling

Material Models

Computational Allowables

Failure Modeling

Virtual Testing & Sim

Computational Design Values

• Producibility • Accept/Reject

• NDT Standards

• Mechanical Props • Knock-downs • Environmental • Effects of Defects

• Structural Performance

• Damage Tolerance • Static & Fatigue • Analysis Validation

• Design Values • DaDT • Analysis Validation

Full Scale

• Static • GVT • Fatigue • Flight

Vehicle

• Producibility

• Inspection Standards

• Quality & Effects of

Defects

• Process Tolerances

• Electromagnetic

effects

• Effects of

Lightning Strikes

• Flammability

Performance

• Assembly

Tolerances Build-

ups – GD&T

• Quality & Effects of

Defects

Linking Modeling & Simulation of Other Effects

Summary

• Complexity drives increased costs

and longer development

• Computational methods must be

extended to routinely handle

complex application design spaces

• Material properties must be linked to structural

simulations seamlessly

• Modeling and simulation activities should be linked

into a more holistic system