Research on modular design requirements of commercial aircraft

Abstract It is urgent to have a unified design process and methodology for modular manufacturing during the initial stage of a civil commercial aircraft project because it involves diverse stakeholders and covers almost the entire commercial aircraft industry chain. This paper presents a Need-Function-Requirement-Physics (N-F-R-P) based system engineering forward design model to determine the set of modular design processes and criteria for the project. Based on the investigation of the stakeholders of the commercial aircraft design, the proposed model first forms the requirement list of modularity. The model then generates the demand list for the modular design of large aircraft and finally formulates the corresponding design plan, which assists in realizing the needs of various stakeholders. The feasibility of the modular separation surface design scheme was verified by the simulation of the assembly path and assembly process of the head-front fuselage structure modular separation surface. The outcome of this paper can be a significant guide for the modular design of civil commercial aircraft projects.