These slides were presented at the NAFEMS World Congress 2025, held in Salzburg, Austria from May 19–22, 2025.

Abstract

The design and development of new nacelles is an iterative, complex, and costly process. The pre-dimensioning phase plays a crucial role in this process and in the selection of solutions. The product's complexity and its evolution within a complex and multiphysical environment necessitate interaction across various domains during the dimensioning phase (systems, fluids, thermal). This requirement leads to extended timelines and prolonged development periods. The classical approach, based on the finite element method, demands a setup and model preparation phase (meshing, connections, loading), necessitating highly qualified and specialized personnel for each domain as well as complex methodologies. Interactions between domains involve exchanging results and performing mapping steps between different tools used. To reduce development time, the implementation of a new methodology is essential. In this work, we present a pre-dimensioning methodology based on multibody modeling with Simcenter 3D. The main objective of this work is to develop a methodology that can be used by a non-specialized team and to provide a tool that can be shared by different users from various specialties. Many challenges were addressed during this work, including hyperstaticity, complex loading, flexibility, composite material properties, and non-linear systems. One of the main problems is how to predict the correct load on joints and actuators. Our study demonstrates the importance of considering the distribution of aerodynamic loads on parts for the proper dimensioning of actuators and fixation points, revealing that approximations using an equivalent loading point are insufficient. To meet this need, a specific module was developed to map the loads on a flexible body. The methodology validation was conducted by comparing the FEA results with the new approaches. This new approach has halved the dimensioning cycle and provided an easy-to-use tool without the need for extensive expertise in the field. Additionally, the tool opens up prospects for dynamic dimensioning coupled with system calculations. The good results and correlation observed using this methodology make it a strong candidate to replace the traditional finite element method during the preliminary design phases of various nacelle components, thereby significantly reducing the required time.