4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference. Belfast, 7-9 October 2014 Organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society

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1 4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference Belfast, 7-9 October 2014 Organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society

2 Aircraft Structural Design Conference Purpose And History Conceived as a European conference for specialists in structural design to exchange information on structural concepts, design and methodologies. Three successful conferences held already in Liverpool, 2008 London, 2010 Delft, 2012

3 4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference Synopsis The Royal Aeronautical Society s 4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference undertaken with the support of Queen s University Belfast will address the challenges facing the designers of the next generation aircraft. These challenges arise because the new designs will need to meet strict environmental constraints, be subject to ever increasing pressures to reduce manufacturing and life-cycle costs and for continual improvements in overall performance/efficiency factors. The resulting aircraft will be complex, requiring multi-disciplinary design approaches and solutions in a distributed design environment. Venue The 4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference is hosted by Queen s University Belfast which is internationally recognised as a leading university devoted to teaching and research in engineering with particular expertise in aeronautical engineering. Conference Description The conference seeks contributions covering current research focused on the design and manufacture of future civil and military air-vehicle structures both manned and uninhabited. This includes consideration of innovative forms and design scenarios together with the challenges resulting from considering the complete aircraft life-cycle from initial concept to final disposal. The design and analysis of structures constructed from CFRP and novel materials is a major topic area for the conference. These challenges need complex and innovative design solutions that often require the use of interdisciplinary and dynamically interactive design methods. In addition, today s design teams are multinational, being distributed across continents, or the globe, and the computational methods must be able to support a distributed work environment. The control of such complexity in the designs and the design process is a major issue that the conference wishes to address.

4 4 th Aircraft Structural Design Conference Main Topics Papers and other contributions will be sought to cover the following broad topic areas: Structural Design Papers are sought that propose design solutions for a range of emerging problems including: environmental constraints; requirements for preventative and corrective maintenance, improved safety and crashworthiness and the need for reducing the time to market. FRP and Advanced/Novel Materials In the case of Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP) and hybrid fibre-metal laminates papers may address how these and similar materials can be employed to improve structural performance, including morphing and tailoring taking into account cost and manufacture/fabrication process. Contributors may wish to consider how these material systems can be maintained in service through non-destructive testing, structural health monitoring etc. and subsequently re-cycled. Papers discussing the potential for novel nano-materials such as graphene and the associated manufacturing evaluation and certification issues would be welcome. Computational Methods Papers under this heading can cover the full range of design and analysis methods involving multi-disciplinary or single discipline environments employing a range of discipline models from simple to complex. The design focus may be directed at flexible aircraft including active/adaptive structures and non-linear behaviour. At a more specific level papers can be submitted which address methods for accurate and efficient mass/load estimation and methods taking account of uncertainties and damage tolerance in an optimising regime.

5 Belfast A City on the rise Lonely Planet guide As the capital city of Northern Ireland, Belfast has enjoyed over a decade of rapid economic growth. The city s skyline has changed significantly in the last few years thanks to massive investment and regeneration. This includes the opening in 2012 of Titanic Belfast, an iconic visitor attraction, as the city which built the ship marks the centenary of its fateful maiden voyage. Political stability has allowed the economy to flourish. Investors recognise the appeal of the strategic location and excellent infrastructure, with major road, rail, sea and air links to the rest of the UK, the Republic of Ireland and mainland Europe. A modern European city bursting with life, Belfast is rich in history, welcoming and friendly, with a great social scene. Compact in size, it s easy to get around and the rest of Northern Ireland s magnificent scenery is virtually on your doorstep. Belfast has two modern airports within 30 minutes of the city centre with links to a multitude of major cities in the UK and Europe. Belfast is only a 50-minute flight from London.

6 History of Queen's Queen's University Belfast has a record of academic achievement which stretches back more than 150 years. Founded by Queen Victoria, the Queen's University in Ireland, was designed to be a non-denominational alternative to Trinity College Dublin which was controlled by the Anglican Church. The University was made up of three Queen's Colleges - in Cork, Galway and Belfast. Although it was the first University in the north of Ireland, Queen's drew on a tradition of learning which goes back to 1810 and the foundation of the Belfast Academical Institution. Its collegiate department, which provided University-style education, closed with the establishment of Queen's and four of its professors and many of its students transferred to the new college. Founded in 1845, Queen's opened in 1849 when the first students entered the magnificent new college building designed and built by Charles Lanyon. The most significant date in the early years of the University's life was 1908 when the three Queen's Colleges, and the Royal University (which replaced the Queen's University in Ireland in 1879), were dissolved and replaced by the Queen's University of Belfast and the National University of Ireland. As an independent institution, governed by its own Senate, Queen's flourished. Increasing student numbers and new staff were accommodated in a number of new buildings and the academic programme increased in range. Arts, Science, Law and Medicine were supplemented by Faculties of Commerce, Applied Science and Technology, Agriculture, and Theology. Today, Queen's is one of the leading universities in the UK and Ireland, providing world-class education underpinned by world-class research.

7 Short Brothers brief history In 1897, Short Brothers began when Eustace Short joined with his brother Oswald to manufacture balloons. In 1902 the brothers offered balloons for sale, which were manufactured at the acoustic laboratory in Hove, Sussex run by the third brother Horace. They continued manufacturing balloons until they heard about the Wright brothers aircraft demonstrations at Le Mans in 1908 and decided that aircraft were the way forward. They obtained the British licence to build copies of the Wright s designs, but also constructed their own aircraft which was exhibited in 1910 as the Short No 1 biplane. In 1909, Shorts moved to the Isle of Sheppey and began to concentrate on a line of successful naval floatplanes. In WW1, the S184 was the first plane to attack and hit a ship with a live torpedo. Thanks to the success of their designs, more space was required and they moved to Rochester starting in In 1916 Short Brothers also purchased a site near Cardington, Bedfordshire to build airships for the admiralty. This later became the Royal Airship Works following nationalisation. In the 1920s and 1930s, Short Brothers built a number of highly successful flying boats at Rochester. These created a number of long-range air services across the British Empire. The first factory in Belfast was created by the Air Ministry in 1936 as Short & Harland Limited, being 50% owned by Harland & Wolff.

8 Short Brothers in Belfast In WW2 both the highly successful Short Sunderland flying boat and the Stirling bomber were manufactured in Belfast. The latter had modern features such as electric actuation but was handicapped by some Air Ministry requirements (principally on wingspan) which limited its usefulness. To meet increased production, satellite factories were created at Aldergrove (now George Best City Airport) and Maghaberry. In 1947, all of Shorts production moved to Belfast and in the 1950s they were involved in much pioneering research including designing and building the SC1 VTOL demonstrator, the SB5 proof of concept vehicle for the English Electric P1 (forerunner of the Lighting) and the Short Sperrin bomber prototype. They also built 150 Canberras. In the 1960s Shorts created the successful Skyvan short haul freighter (still in service) leading on to the SD3330 and SD360 feederliners. The SD330 joined the USAF as the C-23 Sherpa. Shorts then built components for other aircraft manufacturers, including Fokker, until, in 1989, Bombardier outbid Fokker and General Electric to buy Short Brothers. In 1993, Bombardier and Thomson-CSF formed Shorts Missile Systems as a joint venture. This became wholly owned by Thomson-CSF and became Thales in 2001.

9 Bombardier in Belfast Bombardier were early adopters of composite materials. The composite horizontal tailplane for the Bombardier Global (Express) was designed and is built there. The factory has also built Learjet fuselages, but its main activity now is to build the C Series all-composite wing for the efficient, new C-Series single aisle airliner.

10 Other points of interest in Northern Ireland (1) A few miles inland from the Beautiful North Antrim Coast is the home of the oldest Whiskey Distillery in Ireland. The craft of whiskey making has been carried out at the Distillery for over 400 years using the same traditional methods to create some of the finest Irish Whiskeys in the world. Bushmills is very different from most other distilleries in that everything involved in the whiskey making process takes place on one site. Why not come and join us to see for yourself and in the company of an experienced Tour Guide you will be taken right through the heart of the distillery to view the whiskey making process as it happens. Visit our Mash House, where we turn the special natural source water from St. Columbs Rill and the malted barley into wort and then the fermentation process begins, the Still House where we triple distil our whiskeys, through to the cask store to unravel the secrets of maturation and then finally to the Bottling Hall where we bottle Bushmills ready to export across the globe.

11 Other points of interest in Northern Ireland (2) The Giant's Causeway, renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt, is the only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. Resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, this is the focal point of a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has attracted visitors for centuries. It harbours a wealth of local and natural history. See the prestigious new visitor centre at