Evaluation of assemblability during aero engine preliminary design

Despite the constant growth of global air traffic, the competition amongst airlines and their aviation supply chains intensifies. In the future, stricter environmental regulations as well as economic goals will only be met by new aircrafts and aero engines. In order to evaluate the life-cycle related cost at an early stage in the product design process, it is essential to assess the manufacturability and assemblability during preliminary design. Through the assessment of assemblability, major cost drivers can be identified in order to optimize the overall production cost. In this paper, a method to assess the assemblability of different preliminary design variants is introduced. To achieve this, 2D cross sections of actual aero engines are translated into 3D preliminary design models. Finally, an evaluation of the assemblability of different design variants of low pressure turbine modules is conducted.