Trade-off study of a variation aware determinate wing assembly against a traditional assembly strategy

The present study introduces a trade-off framework to evaluate assembly concepts to make informed decisions for aircraft wing structures. This includes (1) the design of the assembly concepts and the estimation of the probability of achieving specific Assembly Key Characteristics, (2) the estimation of the associated costs for each assembly concept using technical cost modelling in combination with Monte Carlo simulation techniques to deal with the uncertainty of the input cost and process parameters and (3) the formulation of the decision matrix to assess the alternative concepts. The suggested trade-off concept can easily be expanded to include weight and performance criteria. Results for a 4m generic composite wing indicated that both conventional and determinate assembly can be successfully implemented with high value probabilities to achieve the predetermined assembly key characteristics.