Unified Analysis of Aerospace Structures through Implementation of Rapid Tools into a Stress Framework

Rapid structural analysis tools have become an important part of the design cycle for aerospace companies for the last several decades. As these tools have been developed over time, there is often little consideration for shared software infrastructure between the tools, which makes design and analysis cumbersome due to a lack of commonality in input and output data and reporting, as well as poor traceability of results. Under the Rapid Tools task of the Advanced Composites Consortium (ACC), four aerospace tools were recently implemented or enhanced in the HyperSizer stress framework and then evaluated by this consortium of industry and government organizations. The framework provides an automated software environment for executing the rapid tools for analysis and sizing, quantifying margins of safety for thousands of load cases, and generating reports in support of FAA certification. This paper describes the process by which the tools were enhanced or implemented in the stress framework under the ACC project, and the evaluation conducted by industry consortium members.