Software from LMS, a Siemens business, has played a major role in the A350-900 structural analysis process, resulting in the software’s expanded use in other Airbus projects. Airbus created a common stress analysis environment based on LMS Samtech Caesam, one of Siemens’ computer-aided engineering (CAE) software solutions. For the A350-900 structural development and certification, LMS Caesam provided the foundation for deploying Airbus harmonized methods to over 2000 stress engineers at more than 50 worldwide suppliers. LMS Caesam provides a single framework that integrates all Airbus processes, methods, tools and data libraries, replacing over 400 tools.
The A350-900, part of the A350 XWB family, is the first Airbus aircraft developed using the company’s common environment known as ISAMI (Improved Structural Analysis through Multidisciplinary Integration). The ISAMI environment ensures consistency in the A350 structural analysis and certification process. ISAMI is based on the LMS Caesam framework, which is part of the LMS Samtech suite of simulation solutions.
The LMS Caesam framework has helped Airbus tackle its three main challenges on structure analysis – harmonization, automation and deployment. It manages and automates engineering processes for safety margin calculation, giving a substantial time-cost benefit over the full design cycle. The framework allows the integration of harmonized sizing processes and tools, capitalizing on company know-how. Furthermore, LMS Caesam is tailored to help aerospace manufacturers manage structural analysis work streams that result from the growing global supply chain.
As a result of the LMS Caesam platform’s success with ISAMI, its use has now been extended to perform detailed structural sizing and certification for the A350-1000 and the A320neo. Additionally, Airbus – together with Siemens’ LMS business segment – has developed a new tool to help estimate aircraft weight early in the development process. Also based on LMS Caesam, PRESTO (Pre-sizing of Structures for Trade-Offs) is used by Airbus for preliminary aircraft sizing. The use of PRESTO on the A350-1000 has already shown a significant time saving over the previous method.
