For the past year Saab Aerostructures has been involved in the European ALCAS collaboration. Advanced Low Cost Aircraft Structures is a co-operation between aviation industries and universities across Europe, 50 per cent of which is financed by the EU. The aim is to develop the aerostructures of the future.
“The main reason we’re involved is of course to develop our know-how, although exchanging knowledge is also important, as is the opportunity to establish contacts with other universities and aviation companies around Europe. It’s important for us to be involved and show what we can do. By working with other companies in the aviation industry we can grow and develop new methods. Taking part in this kind of development project also increases our chances of being involved in future projects,” explains Stefan Nyström, project manager for ALCAS at Saab Aerostructures.
ALCAS has a total of 58 members representing aviation companies of all sizes, as well as universities and research institutions all over Europe. The project has now been running for a year, and will run for four years in total. The overall project manager is Airbus. At the end of the four years, a wing and a rear fuselage for a business jet, as well as a wing and various fuselage components for an airliner will have been developed, produced, tested and verified. Saab Aerostructures is involved in developing the wings.
In early March, around 15 representatives of ALCAS paid a visit to Saab Aerostructures. The focus of the visit was to evaluate potential technical design solutions for the business jet wing.
The delegation included representatives from Dassault, Alenia, Fokker, Advanced Composite Group, the University of Pisa and Saab. Four different teams had produced different technical design solutions, and a CDR – Critical Design Review – was carried out during the visit. This basically entailed taking a closer look at the designs to ensure they fulfilled the construction requirements.
The next stage will be to produce technical designs for the details, and finally to manufacture the wing. In the years to come the teams will continue to meet at various aviation companies across Europe to carry on developing the aerostructures of the future.
Back to CNB 2/2006