Generative Design Saves Up To 500,000 Tons Of CO2 Per Year

2023 Author : Hannah Pearcy | [email protected] . Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:12

Airbus has long relied on Autodesk's generative design approach to address the complex design and production challenges. The generative design approach is to be implemented for two aircraft components: a bionic partition and a new version of the vertical tail of the A320.

What is generative design?

Generative design, also called generative design, is a process in which different design or construction variants are explored. Designers, developers or engineers first formulate the design goal and enter it into the generative design software together with a number of different parameters, including performance, spatial conditions, material, manufacturing processes or cost targets. The software now calculates all possible solutions by combining the input parameters and thus generates a number of design alternatives in the shortest possible time. Finally, the software tests each of these iterations and determines what works and what doesn't.

Bionic partition 45% lighter than conventional parts

Airbus already showed its first feasibility study with generative design in 2015: a so-called bionic partition. The engineer Bastian Schäfer, Innovation Manager at Airbus, developed the Airbus Concept Plane with his team - a vision for the jet plane of 2050. It shapes the way passengers will travel in the future.

The new partition should:

• to be much lighter than the current wall in order to reduce the weight of the aircraft as intended,
• be stable enough to hold two folding seats on which flight attendants can take a seat during departure and landing,
• have an opening through which wide objects can be transported into and out of the cabin,
• be at most one inch thick and
• attached to the airframe in only four places.

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The partition has the task of separating the passenger compartment from the aircraft galley and carries the folding seats for the on-board personnel .

Airbus' bionic bulkhead had to adhere to strict parameters regarding weight, loads and displacements that occur when, in the event of a crash, centrifugal forces of 16 g act on the aircraft. The team wanted to find the best way to meet these requirements and optimize the aircraft skeleton . Therefore, the engineers for the software for generative design wrote algorithms based on two growth patterns from nature: that of the slime mold and that of mammalian bones.

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The resulting design is a lattice structure that appears arbitrary, but was designed to be both stable and light, and to use as little material as possible during construction.

The redesigned bionic partition is 45 percent lighter than conventional parts of this type , but just as stable. The weight savings have a positive impact on the CO ₂ balance of the aircraft. Airbus estimates that the new design approach will save almost half a million tons of CO ₂ per year if the partition wall is to be installed in the current A320 aircraft layout.

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Alternative manufacturing methods for partition

The partition was originally supposed to be produced in 3D metal printing. However, this method could not be implemented due to the material requirements in aviation. An alternative is a mix of classic casting technology and 3D printing processes : Airbus first produces a 3D-printed mold from plastic and then casts the component in an alloy that is already approved for flying.

The bionic partition 2.0 is just as stable and light as its predecessor. “The adapted design makes the bionic component much easier to produce. The first prototype is already in the works and will hopefully be completed before the end of this year,”says Bastian Schäfer, the designer responsible for the cooperation with Autodesk at Airbus. Thanks to the optimizations, the bionic partition 2.0 can even be produced at the same cost as the component currently in use, Airbus explained at Autodesk University.

Hundreds of design alternatives for new tail fin

Airbus is also optimizing another aircraft part - the vertical tail (colloquially: tail fin) of the A320. The vertical tail of an aircraft has the function of providing directional stability and reducing aerodynamic inefficiency that can arise from lateral movements. The generative design approach of Autodesk enables it to the development team, hundreds of playing through to design alternatives . All of these meet the requirements for the vertical tail in terms of stiffness, stability and mass, but at the same time offer advantages in terms of weight, which plays an important role in aviation.

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Production halls of the future

Airbus is currently examining whether this technology can be used in the planning of future production halls. The aim is to significantly accelerate the assembly of engines with more efficient logistical processes and thus to increase the productivity of the employees. The production facility can also be flexibly adapted to current and future company requirements.

"Generative design enables us to develop a more sustainable architecture that pays better for the needs of our employees and working conditions," explains Schäfer. “ Generative design has also changed how we think and how we approach the design of something . Generative design overcomes preconceived notions and blind spots. No matter which of the design options we choose, we are certain that a production facility of this type will work more efficiently and will be cheaper to build.”