SAACC
Aerospace & Defense Agencies Simcenter
SAACC

Simcenter supports civil aircraft verification and airworthiness certification

Shanghai, China

Siemens PLM Software solution enables development and deployment of the first airworthiness certification in China

Aerospace & Defense Agencies Simcenter

Simcenter supports civil aircraft verification and airworthiness certification

Shanghai, China

Siemens PLM Software solution enables development and deployment of the first airworthiness certification in China

Download Case Study
quotation marks Simcenter plays a key role in our research and development of the landing gear airworthiness means of compliance and in assisting our compliance findings. Dr. He Xufei, Landing Gear Airworthiness Certification Representative SAACC
挑战
  • Expensive and time-consuming test methods for certification and approval of landing gear system airworthiness
  • Coordination of several research institutions by SAACC for joint research of landing gear system verification and airworthiness certification methods
成功的关键
  • Establish a parameterized landing gear simulation model using Simcenter
  • Efficient, fast and comprehensive study of experimental parameters on landing gear performance
  • Establish a foundation for relevant compliance certification methods, examination and judgments
结果
  • Developed the first airworthiness certification method in China
  • Offered compliance suggestions in the certification of several aircraft models
  • Improved verification methods and increased safety of relevant models

SAACC

Shanghai Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Center of CAAC was founded in 2007 after approval by the State Commission Office of Public Sectors Reform. It is a deputy-department public institution fully supported by national finance. It primarily provides technical support for airworthiness certification of civil aircraft items and is responsible for recognition and examination of overseas large aircraft models and a reliable strong part of China’s civil aircraft airworthiness certification force. SAACC amends rules, studies topics, continuously furthers technical depth, cultivates core tech-nical strengths and provides technical support for guaranteeing civil aviation safety.
It is fully responsible for certification of large fire-fighting/water-rescue amphibious aircraft and large aircraft including the COMAC C919 and for post-certification management of the COMAC ARJ21-700, a domestically-made feeder liner.

http://hd.caac.gov.cn/index.html

quotation marks Part of the case study and calculation work for this method is based on this software. Its ease of use and reliability of calculation are the key factors considered by us in making this choice. In the future we will also consider other simulation tools in Simcenter. Dr. He Xufei, Landing Gear Airworthiness Certification Representative SAACC
quotation marks Simcenter plays a key role in our research and development of the landing gear airworthiness means of compliance and in assisting our compliance findings. Dr. He Xufei, Landing Gear Airworthiness Certification Representative SAACC

Airworthiness certification for large civil aircraft

For the aviation industry, safety is the issue of top priority. Any aircraft model must undergo and pass certification by a competent aircraft airworthiness certification authority and it is a precondition for commissioning the aircraft model.

Because of the high technical content of airworthiness certification work, only a few nations with strong aviation technologies have authoritative airworthiness certification institutions; these include the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). In China, this important responsibility is borne by the Civil Airworthiness Certification Center under the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The center has five certification institutions, including the Shanghai Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Center (SAACC) of CAAC, one of the earliest aircraft airworthiness certification bodies established in China. SAACC is responsible for airworthiness certification of all civil jet-propelled transportation aircraft, including Boeing, Airbus and other foreign aircraft models, before they enter the China market; for post-certification management of the qualification certificates for the domestically-made COMAC ARJ21-700; and for airworthiness certification of large fire-fighting/water-rescue amphibious aircraft and large aircraft such as the COMAC C919.

These responsibilities impose huge challenges for SAACC. These include how to define the airworthiness certification method and content of verification in a timely manner, considering the rapidly changing new technologies and increasingly complex application scenarios, and how to improve the efficiency and quality of airworthiness certification work while confirming safety. SAACC must also support and encourage aircraft makers to innovate various verification technologies.

Engineering challenges

In the process of aircraft airworthiness certification, aircraft makers must provide supporting documents for different certification items, depending on the compliance verification methods specified by the airworthiness certification authorities. The following table lists general airworthiness compliance verification methods and corresponding documents required.

Airworthiness compliance verification methods

With respect to airworthiness certification of landing gear systems, past simulation means were not fully confirmed and demonstrated, so SAACC had to request applicants to adopt such verification methods as lab tests, ground tests, flight tests, and others. The entire verification process was costly and time-consuming. Most of the tests require close cooperation from aircraft makers and overseas suppliers, which typically incurs significant communication costs.

Landing gear system certification involves multiple disciplines, for example the aircraft’s overall design, landing gear structure design, control system design, hydraulic transmission system design and is affected by various environmental factors (including tire and runway materials), so comprehensively judging the effects of such design factors and external environmental factors is an important component of landing gear airworthiness certification work. Considering such complex engineering issues, physical testing methods are limited. Simulation techniques must be used extensively to establish a complete and efficient parameterized analysis model and a compliance verification method based on analysis and calculation.

SAACC’s choice

On the recommendations of several partners, in 2014 SAACC introduced LMS Virtual.LabTM Motion software, part of the SimcenterTM portfolio from Siemens PLM Software, as the key tool for solving problems.

With the professional technical support from Siemens PLM Software, SAACC successfully established a rigid-flexible multi-body dynamics simulation model for the landing gear system. The model is fully parameterized, so it can rapidly adjust the landing gear systems of different aircraft models, thus helping certification experts improve analysis verification and airworthiness judgment efficiency. The model also considers various complex design parameters and environmental parameters, which enables airworthiness certification experts to simulate conditions that are difficult to reproduce under many test conditions, thus significantly improving overall certification efficiency and confidence in examination work.

First airworthiness certification method developed in China

Using simulation, SAACC successfully developed a landing gear airworthiness compliance verification method based on analysis and calculation, and in 2016 successfully completed the “Research on Airliner Swing Vibration Airworthiness Certification Technology,” which was the first airworthiness certification method developed in China.

With this method, SAACC successfully promotes the airworthiness compliance verification method for domestically-made large fire-fighting/water-rescue amphibious aircraft and large aircraft, and provides important guidelines for subsequent analysis and test verification of relevant items.

“Simcenter plays a key role in our research and development of the landing gear airworthiness means of compliance and in assisting our compliance findings.” says Dr. He Xufei, landing gear airworthiness certification representative at SAACC. “Part of the case study and calculation work for this method is based on this software. Its ease of use and reliability of calculation are the key factors we considered in making this choice. In the future we will also consider other simulation tools in Simcenter. We believe our cooperation with Siemens PLM Software will greatly help us further improve airworthiness certification work efficiency and quality, help civil aircraft manufacturers innovate, achieve expected safety of new civil aircraft models, and secure safety of passengers.”

简要 详细
quotation marks Part of the case study and calculation work for this method is based on this software. Its ease of use and reliability of calculation are the key factors considered by us in making this choice. In the future we will also consider other simulation tools in Simcenter. Dr. He Xufei, Landing Gear Airworthiness Certification Representative SAACC