Project aims to create tool to model manufacturing processes, reducing need for component testing and cutting costs
A four-year, €6.4 million ($7.5 million) European Union Sixth Framework research project is to develop software for simulating the effects of manufacturing processes on materials for aeroengine and rocket motor components.
The Virtual Engineering for Robust Manufacturing with Design Integration (VERDI) project will create a simulation tool to model manufacturing processes such as welding, milling, roller burnishing for surface treatment, heat treatment, shot peening and sheet metal pressing.
The aim is to reduce process testing and the related waste, so speeding up component development while reducing costs.
Another goal is to use the tool to develop lighter engines and reduce overall manufacturing costs with improved operations.
Simulation could show the impact one process has on the effectiveness of the following operation. “We will be able to test all stages of development in a virtual environment. It will become easier and less expensive for us to make any necessary changes,” says VERDI co-ordinator and Volvo Aero development engineer Torbjorn Kvist. Volvo Aero has been using a welding simulator since 1995.
Of the €6.4 million budget, €4.4 million is from the EU and the remainder from the industrial partners. The project’s 16 partner organisations include Volvo Aero and Rolls-Royce, MTU Aero Engines, the German universities of Aachen and Karlsruhe, Sweden’s Lulea University of Technology and Trollhattan/Uddevalla University, Italian propulsion company Avio, Italy’s EnginSoft and Royal Turin Polytechnic, Belgium’s Techspace Aero, and the UK’s University of Nottingham.
ROB COPPINGER/LONDON
Source: Flight International
