FEATURE / A400M WING ASSEMBLY
A400M wing AsseMbly:
Challenge of integrating Composites
BY Jeff sloan
the Atlas military transport���s decade of development has lighted the
path for airbus wing development on the a350 and future programs.
M
any of the articles published in
HPC focus on the manufacture
of a single composite component or structure. Often, these
components become part of a
larger product ��� an aircraft, spacecraft,
racecar or some other complex structure
in a high-performance application. But
it���s rare that HPC is offered more than a
glimpse of the machinery, processes and
techniques used to assemble and integrate those components and many others
into those larger structures.
And so it was that in October 2012, HPC
editors were extended that rare invitation
and paid a visit to the Airbus Military
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A400M Atlas military airlifter wing assembly facility in Filton, just north of Bristol in
South Gloucestershire, U.K.
It���s at this facility that Airbus completes
the complex task of integrating wing spars,
wingskins and an assortment of other
large carbon ���ber composite structures
into the A400M���s massive wing before
equipping the structure with an array of
complex systems, covering ���fuel, electrics,
pneumatics and hydraulics.��� In addition,
the plant installs all ���xed and moveable
structures, including trailing-edge devices (e.g., ailerons and ���aps), leading
edges and wingtips. This assembly effort
represents one of the largest such opera-
high-performance composites
tions in the world, producing a wing that
weighs only 6500 kg/14,330 lb, but can
contain and carry aloft as much as 25,000
kg/55,116 lb of fuel.
Among the assembly puzzles Filton
engineers had to solve was how to manage the carbon ���ber composites that are
so critical to the wings��� structural and
weight-saving success. ���For us,��� says
Paul Evans, A400M lean consultant and
HPC���s tour guide, ���getting to grips with
the carbon ���ber was our biggest challenge. We���ve used carbon ���ber in aircraft
structures for many years, but this is the
���rst time we���ve used it so extensively in
such a large structure.���