Advanced Assembly Solutions for the Airbus RACER Joined-Wing Configuration Articles uri icon

authors

  • BAINBRIDGE, DAVID
  • BACHAROUDIS, KONSTANTINOS
  • CINI, ANDREA
  • TURNER, ALISON
  • POPOV, ATANAS
  • RATCHEV, SVETAN

publication date

  • September 2019

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 10

issue

  • 1884

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0148-7191

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2688-3627

abstract

  • The Rapid And Cost Effective Rotorcraft (RACER) is being developed by Airbus Helicopters (AH) to demonstrate a new Vertical Take-Off and Landing configuration to fill the mobility gap between conventional helicopters and aeroplanes. RACER is a compound rotorcraft featuring wings and multiple rotors. The wing arrangement suggested by AH is defined as a staggered bi-plane joined configuration with an upper and a lower straight wing, either side of the fuselage, connected at their outboard extent to form a triangular structure. The ASTRAL consortium, consisting of the University of Nottingham and GE Aviation Systems, are responsible for the design, manufacture, assembly and testing of the wings. Producing an optimised strategy to assemble a joined-wing configuration for a passenger carrying rotorcraft is challenging and novel. The objective of this work concerns all aspects of assembling the joined-wing structure [...]

subjects

  • Aeronautics

keywords

  • assembling; wings; joining; forming; propellers and rotors; fuselages; helicopters; flaps; rotary-wing aircraft