Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
(OP)
Very impressive! Does anybody know which CAD did they use? Was it NX, CATIA, or something else?
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS Come Join Us!Are you an
Engineering professional? Join Eng-Tips Forums!
*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail. Posting GuidelinesJobs |
Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
|
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Otherwise can't really tell. Solidworks is apparently being used by more larger scale projects like this. A friend of mine who worked at Firefly before a recent downsizing said that's what they used. I was quite surprised, expecting something more like you mention - NX/CATIA or maybe Pro/E or something with similarly advanced analysis functions. Using Solidworks and external CAE analysis and simulation software like Ansys is apparently not uncommon in advanced engineering companies like these, though.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks '16
ctophers home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
CATIA and/or Solidworks
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Honest question: What is lacking in SolidWorks that is needed to generate more complex curves? Do higher-end CAD systems have dedicated tools for this type of task?
I cannot imagine a shape that I couldn't make in either of the lower-end CAD systems that I have experience in, SolidEdge and SolidWorks. However, I fully admit that my imagination may be the limiting factor here; aerodynamic, flowing shapes have never really been my job.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Fuselage looks like a pair of scaled-up Cessna 172s with B-1 noses scabbed on. "Corners" of rear half of fuselage are not C2 continuous. Flat side walls surrender a lot of structural integrity inherent with a more cylindrical/conical shape.
I can only speak about CATIA from the perspective of a downstream client. However, I had a lot of "under the hood" experience with UG/NX surfacing. If I was designing ANYTHING with math-critical surfaces, it would be in NX or CATIA (not even Creo).
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
je suis charlie
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Solidworks and other "middle of the road" CAD packages have come a long way since I last worked with them several years back. They have been incorporating a lot more freeform surfacing tools, flow and thermal analysis, and some FEA tools. I have not used any such tools. I was just surprised to learn of it. It's possibly just something that makes 'pretty pictures' that will make minor/less-critical design work "look better" or make pretty pictures for advertising materials that make them look like a more advanced/competent engineering team... or maybe it's pretty legit. I dunno. The people I know using Solidworks use more established CAE tools.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
I think the shape is the shape they want, from CFD. Flat sides improve the wing end plate effect, I doubt the the payload has much impact on this design decision. Those enormous MLG bogies must be murder to retract (into a sensible shape).
As for the second cockpit ... maybe that's reserved for payload operating crew ?
another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Interestingly, just this morning I saw a picture in the book "How to Make a Spaceship" of Burt Rutan (designer of the above aircraft) when he was 10 years old with one of his first homebuilt balsa wood and paper model airplanes. I can highly recommend that book for anyone interested in the development of commercial spacecraft.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
SCI can certainly make beautiful and crazy things without a straight line in them, however they get to lines on paper and coding in machines. The 'liquid shape' aspects of the thing may not have been critical, that the approach of sistering a couple giant Short 360's solved their problem. I think the FBW aspects of the thing must be very interesting. With the weak but significant fuselage coupling, it must be like operating a couple large planes in formation, except if you break formation, everyone dies.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
"To cut development costs, many of the aircraft systems have been adopted from the Boeing 747-400, including the engines, avionics, flight deck, landing gear and other systems. Two former United Airlines Boeing 747-400 aircraft (Serial numbers 28715 & 28716) were acquired and taken to the Mojave Air & Space Port for cannibalization."
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
I use both Solidworks and Catia extensively- the difference between the two is much, much narrower than it was 10 years ago.
When you go to Catia, you get that last 5% of capability with surfacing. I would say that any surface that you could create in Catia, you could also create in Solidworks, but the process, level of accuracy attainable, and number of iterations/amount of time required to get to your final shape with good underlying math is bigger in Solidworks.
As far as CAE, I use Solidworks' native analysis package a fair bit for stress and strain analysis, as well as for mold flow checks- and it's perfectly functional as a first pass solver. On simple stress/strain problems, in my experience, Solidworks results and ANSYS results always agree. What Solidworks doesn't handle well is more complicated problems- collisions, flexible parts, parts with nonlinear characteristics, very large dynamic assemblies, etc. So for 95% or so of CAD users, Solidworks provides all they will ever need.
In the aerospace world (which I'm not a part of) it almost certainly isn't enough on its own.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
It looks like one continuous nasty loft, from bow to stern done by some junior-designer hired 1 week after the into course.
The fwd fuse corner fillet and the wing "fairing" blend look terrible. Maybe there was some need to compromise, for unseen internal issues.
The tail will have interference drag at the root. More than if it looked more like the marketing promo models.
Reality probably bit somebody on the a**, and this is just what they settled for.
STF
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
There were some interesting comments suggesting inexperience of the designers. A honest question (I do not live in US) - is it possible in US that someone inexperienced is hired to do such kind of job? If yes, what is the reason? Is it because all experienced aerospace designers would not want to leave their good jobs for some dodgy startup or what?
www.cadroad.com
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
Getting rid of the inboard Part of the tail plane would put a massive bending load on the end of the tail cone when full up or down elevator was applied.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
The critical horizontal tailplane loads would likely be quite asymmetrical already, given those three engines appear to be very closely spaced by airliner standards. Will be interesting to see how much tail shake it has during a full power ground run.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
They spent untold hours of thorough design time, but these guys looked over the skin shape for DOZENS of minutes. DOZENS. Obviously they know enough to dictate the appropriate modifications.
(tongue firmly in cheek, folks, don't take it seriously)
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
For a project of this scale, budget and visibility it is HIGHLY doubtful than anyone even remotely green would be hired to design something like this. The comments of the posters above who know more about who is and isn't an experienced designer make it clear that the designer of this plane is not a new kid on the block.
The other factor is that regardless of Burt Rutan's experience designing aircraft, it's highly doubtful he was the one spending a couple thousand hours in Solidworks creating surfaces- but I would imagine someone like that doesn't just hire CAD operators off the street. I'm sure that the people creating the math for these shapes were highly experienced.
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
I have admired Burt Rutan for a long time, having watched his career for decades after seeing my first Long-EZ, walking around a Beech Starship, following the Virgin Atlantic's course as it flew, and cheering on the SS1 project.
This aircraft bears NONE of the characteristics of a Burt Rutan design.
STF
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
None.
--Scott
www.aerornd.com
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
It has three lift surfaces and looks really weird... doesn't that sound like Burt to you?
:)
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
RE: Which CAD was used to design Stratolaunch?
--Scott
www.aerornd.com