USING SIMULATION TO SUPPORT PROCESS INTEGRATION AND AUTOMATION OF THE EARLY STAGES OF AEROSPACE DESIGN

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) software tools for design representation, analysis and optimization play a central role in aerospace engineering. Increasingly these tools are being integrated to automate data transfer, thereby reducing design cycle times and increasing the power of design search and optimization techniques. The majority of work concerning process integration and design automation has focused on the technical issues involved in improving the capability and interoperability of design tools and the means of incorporating them into automated workflows. Of lesser concern has been assessing the performance of these workflows prior to implementation. This paper reports on research at Rolls-Royce that used process mapping and discrete event simulation to help design and predict the performance of an automated design system that is being developed for the early stages of civil aero engine design. The findings of this research are that process simulation can add value to mapping the design process by quantifying the expected outcomes of different implementation scenarios and, thereby, indicating opportunities for further process improvements.