Fsx A380 Afs Design 61
Demi Kemmeries
Avoid some aerodynamically awkward corners that would happen if the wing profile just went straight through the fuselage, with no rounded corners etc. at the intersection. This is particularly useful at the wing trailing edge, to avoid or reduce corrner separation on the wing suction side. This paper shows what that can look like in a generic wing/body configuration, and here's a picture of a design well-known to have an annoying corner separation that could have been prevented with the right kind of fairing/fillet:
On 1 December 2005, the A380 achieved its maximum design speed of Mach 0.96, (its design cruise speed is Mach 0.85) in a shallow dive.[41] In 2006, the A380 flew its first high-altitude test at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. It conducted its second high-altitude test at the same airport in 2009.[46] On 10 January 2006, it flew to José María Córdova International Airport in Colombia, accomplishing the transatlantic testing, and then it went to El Dorado International Airport to test the engine operation in high-altitude airports. It arrived in North America on 6 February 2006, landing in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in Canada for cold-weather testing.[47]
Initial production of the A380 was troubled by delays attributed to the 530 km (330 mi) of wiring in each aircraft. Airbus cited as underlying causes the complexity of the cabin wiring (98,000 wires and 40,000 connectors), its concurrent design and production, the high degree of customisation for each airline, and failures of configuration management and change control.[60][61] The German and Spanish Airbus facilities continued to use CATIA version 4, while British and French sites migrated to version 5.[62] This caused overall configuration management problems, at least in part because wire harnesses manufactured using aluminium rather than copper conductors necessitated special design rules including non-standard dimensions and bend radii; these were not easily transferred between versions of the software.[63] File conversion tools were initially developed by Airbus to help solve this problem; however, the digital mock-up was still unable to read the full technical design data.[64] Furthermore, organisational culture was also cited as a cause of the production delays. The communication and reporting culture at the time frowned upon delivery of bad news, meaning Airbus was unable to take early actions to mitigate technical and production issues.[64]
One reason that the A380 did not achieve commercial viability for Airbus has been attributed to its extremely large capacity being optimised for a hub-and-spoke system, which was projected by Airbus to be thriving when the programme was conceived. However, airlines underwent a fundamental transition to a point-to-point system, which gets customers to their destination in one flight instead of two or three. The massive scale of the A380 design was able to achieve a very low cost for passenger seat-distance, but efficiency within the hub-and-spoke paradigm was not able to overcome the efficiency of fewer flights required in the point-to-point system. Specifically, US based carriers had been using a multihub strategy, which only justified the need for a handful of VLAs (very large aircraft with more than 400 seats) such as the A380, and having too few VLAs meant that they could not achieve economy of scale to spread out the enormous fixed cost of the VLA support infrastructure.[141] Consequently, orders for VLAs slowed in the mid-2010s, as widebody twin jets now offer similar range and greater fuel efficiency, giving airlines more flexibility at a lower upfront cost.[142][143][144][145]
Still, Airbus estimated that the A380's size and advanced technology would provide lower operating costs per passenger than the 747-400. The wings incorporate wingtip fences that extend above and below the wing surface, similar to those on the A310 and A320. These increase fuel efficiency and range by reducing induced drag.[172] The wingtip fences also reduce wake turbulence, which endangers following aircraft.[173] The wings of the A380 were designed in Filton and manufactured in Broughton in the United Kingdom. The wings were then transported to the harbour of Mostyn, where they were transported by barge to Toulouse, France, for integration and final assembly with the rest of the aircraft and its components.[174]
Airbus's publicity has stressed the comfort and space of the A380 cabin,[223] and advertised onboard relaxation areas such as bars, beauty salons, duty-free shops, and restaurants.[224][225] Proposed amenities resembled those installed on earlier airliners, particularly 1970s wide-body jets,[226] which largely gave way to regular seats for more passenger capacity.[226] Airbus has acknowledged that some cabin proposals were unlikely to be installed,[225] and that it was ultimately the airlines' decision how to configure the interior.[226] Industry analysts suggested that implementing customisation has slowed the production speeds, and raised costs.[227] Due to delivery delays, Singapore Airlines and Air France debuted their seat designs on different aircraft prior to the A380.[228][229]
Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways also have a bar lounge and seating area on the upper deck, while Etihad has enclosed areas for two people each.[239] In addition to lounge areas, some A380 operators have installed amenities consistent with other aircraft in their respective fleets, including self-serve snack bars,[240] premium economy sections,[229] and redesigned business-class seating.[228]
In the 1990s, aircraft manufacturers were planning to introduce larger planes than the Boeing 747. In a common effort of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with manufacturers, airports and its member agencies, the "80-metre box" was created, the airport gates allowing planes up to 80 m (260 ft) wingspan and length to be accommodated.[242] Airbus designed the A380 according to these guidelines,[243][244] and to operate safely on Group V runways and taxiways with a 60 metres (200 ft) loadbearing width.[245] The US FAA initially opposed this,[246][247] then in July 2007, the FAA and EASA agreed to let the A380 operate on 45 m (148 ft) runways without restrictions.[248] The A380-800 is approximately 30% larger in overall size than the 747-400.[249][250] Runway lighting and signage may need changes to provide clearance to the wings and avoid blast damage from the engines. Runways, runway shoulders and taxiway shoulders may be required to be stabilised to reduce the likelihood of foreign object damage caused to (or by) the outboard engines, which are more than 25 m (82 ft) from the centre line of the aircraft,[243][245][251] compared to 21 m (69 ft) for the 747-400,[252] and 747-8.[253]
Airbus measured pavement loads using a 540-tonne (595 short tons) ballasted test rig, designed to replicate the landing gear of the A380. The rig was towed over a section of pavement at Airbus's facilities that had been instrumented with embedded load sensors.[254] It was determined that the pavement of most runways will not need to be reinforced despite the higher weight,[251] as it is distributed on more wheels than in other passenger aircraft with a total of 22 wheels (that is, its ground pressure is lower).[255] The A380 undercarriage consists of four main landing gear legs and one noseleg (a layout similar to that of the 747), with the two inboard landing gear legs each supporting six wheels.[255][256]
AirInsight estimates its hourly cost at $26,000, or around $50 per seat hour (when configured for only 520 seats), which compares to $44 per seat hour for a Boeing 777-300ER, and $90 per seat hour for a Boeing 747-400 as of November 2015[update].[333] The A380 was designed with large wing and tail surfaces to accommodate a planned stretch; this resulted in a high empty weight per seat.[311] The stretch never occurred to take advantage of this, and the A380's cost-per-seat is expected to be matched by the A350-1000 and 777-9.[311]
Last month, Airbus announced it was ceasing production of the A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft. Transport designer Paul Priestman, who designed the superjumbo's first interior, spoke to Dezeen about its design legacy.
Priestman became involved in the creation of the plane in 2000, when he and his team were asked to "design the future of aviation". They were tasked with developing the aircraft's large interiors, which were unlike anything seen before and redefined the passenger experience.
The interiors Priestman created for the original A380 gave the model its nickname at Airbus as the "wow" mockup, as this was the word people uttered when they entered the interior for the first time, according to the designer.
Paul Priestman: It was in 2000. PriestmanGoode had been invited to exhibit at a small exhibition of British design at the British Consulate in Paris organised by the Department for International Trade.
There I met a senior person from Airbus and we got talking. PriestmanGoode had just finished working on the new Virgin Atlantic interiors, and I talked a lot about design and its role in creating outstanding passenger experiences.
That was that really. Shortly thereafter Airbus invited us to tender for the design and mockup of an entirely new aircraft, and we won the tender. This was a dream project for a designer. While many aircraft are regularly updated with improvements, this was an entirely new product. We had free reign to think big, to think about what the future of air travel could look like.
Paul Priestman: The A380's most distinguishing feature is, of course, its large interior capacity on two full-length passenger decks. And it's spacious, which means that airlines can not only carry a lot of passengers with the A380, but they can also offer public areas on board for passengers to stretch out. It ushered it a hugely prolific era for aircraft interior design.
Paul Priestman: I genuinely don't think we would be where we are in terms of aircraft design today if it weren't for the A380. When Airbus awarded the design contract to PriestmanGoode, the dream brief was to "design the future of aviation", the interior we created was for the aircraft then known as the A3XX, which later became the A380.
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