Parametric nacelle modelling to support structural design for engine integration

There is a continual demand to improve the performance of aircraft, especially in terms of their cost of operation, maintenance, and environmental footprint. One of the key subsystems contributing to the competitiveness of an aircraft is the powerplant. The powerplant consists of the core engine and the set of Engine Integration Components including the inlet, fan cowl, thruster reverser unit, pylon/strut, plug and nozzle. In this research an automated tool is described which can automatically generate parametric CAD and FEM structural models of nacelle components (inlet, fan cowl, thruster reverser unit), nozzle and plug that can be integrated with different sizes of core engine models. The finite element models generated from the automated tool are connected to an existing engine model and pylon to create a whole powerplant assembly. Modal and static unit load analyses demonstrate application of the modelling capability to support rapid early-stage design studies.