Business-to-Business Virtual Collaboration of Aircraft Engine Combustor Design

In today’s fast-changing economy, product designs are becoming increasingly complex while demands for faster design cycles never cease. Tighter collaboration among business partners and streamlined integration of engineering processes are becoming essential elements to succeeding in the competitive global environment. Modern computer-aided design/engineering solutions and revolutionary Internet technologies facilitate such real-time business-to-business (B2B) design collaboration. This paper discusses various emerging technologies that enable a true B2B virtual collaboration of an aircraft engine combustor design between GE Aircraft Engines, a jet engine manufacturer, and Parker Hannifin, a gas turbine fuel nozzle supplier. A case study involving the collaborative design and analysis of a fuel nozzle is also presented, which demonstrates the realistic implementation of these new technologies.