Rule-based fuselage and spine and cross-section methods for computer aided design of aircraft components

In recent years, the use of computer-aided design (CAD) systems for conceptual aircraft design has greatly increased. As a result, new and better methods for creating surface models of aircraft geometry using dimensional parameters are needed.

One such method, the Rule-Based Fuselage method, was suggested by Lockheed. The Rule-Based Fuselage method allows an aircraft designer to define complex aircraft fuselage geometry by specifying the fuselage profile and individual parametric cross-sections along the fuselage.

This thesis describes the Rule-Based Fuselage method and discusses the implementation of the method in an interactive, object-oriented environment. Also included in this system is the Spine and Cross-Section method for creating arbitrarily shaped aircraft components.

The design and implementation of both the Rule-Based Fuselage and Spine and Cross-Section methods are described. The integration of these methods with the conceptual aircraft design code, ACSYNT, is also discussed.