Engineering Software Research And Development, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: N03-169

Description

An Interactive Structural Analysis Environment and Management System (iSAMS), designed to support the practice of simulation governance of engineered repairs of metallic and composite aircraft structures, is enhanced, certified and deployed for production deployment. Repairs to modern military aircraft require certified engineering analysis methods. Methods have evolved with the history of airframe design over several decades. The Boeing F/A-18 Fatigue Analysis Procedure Manual (FAPM) is one such collection of methods that were created prior to the F/A-18 program. Interpretation of the FAPM for a specific repair or interpolation of graphical data affects values of correction factors. Any number of non-expert engineers analyzing the same problem might find the same number of different values for each data of interest. Such critical analyses require automation to remove errors from the process.The iSAMS system supports acceleration of the decision-making process pertaining to damaged aircraft and serves as a repository for completed repair projects that can be documented, referenced and shared. iSAMS is being updated to include enhancements to improve standard FAPM methods; enable users to add their own models, solvers, rules, and report templates; provide importation of multiple load cases; and support certification of iSAMS tools for use in production.