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Static verification of aircraft structural components

More than twenty years ago, Airbus Defence and Space initiated the development of the Strength 2000 application. This is an integrated tool for the static verification of aircraft structural components. The challenge is the lifetime of the software, i.e., Strength 2000 must ensure the availability and traceability of the calculations performed over the lifetime of the structures (military approx. 25-30 years, civil more than 40 years).

The aim of the development of Strength 2000 is to automate the performance of the verifications and to relieve users of repetitive tasks. The application fulfills the following requirements:

  • Simplification and automation of the control of the procedures according to the Handbook for Structural Calculations (HSB).
  • Parameterization of the calculation procedures with the data from the finite element model, the load data and the CAD data • Control of the execution of the calculation procedures
  • Visualization of the calculation results
  • Easy integration of further procedures
  • Runability of the program on different platforms (Windows and Linux)

Airbus Defence and Space has approached RISC Software GmbH to analyze Strength 2000 from a software-technical point of view in order to check existing measures or to take new measures that meet the requirements resulting from the long service life of the software. Subsequently, RISC Software GmbH will also be responsible for maintenance and further development.

An important milestone was the restructuring of the finite element analysis postprocessor “DIANA,” whereby the following work was carried out:

  • Ensuring sustainability (maintainability or expandability)
  • Restructuring of the internal data model
  • Conversion to more efficient storage management
  • Support of new structured file formats (HDF5)
  • Increase of program robustness
  • Reduction of program limits
  • Integration into the productive environment

Another milestone was the expansion of Strength 2000 for its external use, with the following activities:

  • Improvement of the ergonomics of the user interface
  • Analysis of the existing infrastructure regarding user administration and data management
  • Development of a help system with associated authoring tool on wiki basis

Projektpartner

Project details

  • Project short tile: Static verification of aircraft structural components
  • Project long title: Integrated tool for automated control and result processing of verification calculations
  • Project partner:
    • Airbus Defense and Space
  • Duration: ongoing

Contact person









    DI Dr. Thanh-Chung Dinh

    Head of Unit Industrial Software Applications