Mass Reduction of a Jet Engine Bracket using Topology Optimisation for Additive Manufacturing Application

Abstract

 The unnecessary mass of parts in an aircraft contributes to its higher fuel consumption. Thus, an approach to Topology Optimisation (TO) and Additive Manufacturing (AM) methodologies could overcome this particular challenge. The aim of this study is to lessen mass of a jet engine bracket using TO and AM methodologies. TO assists the designer by creating optimised design, which resulted in a lighter part. However, due to the free form nature that resulted when optimising part using TO, the design is often difficult to be manufactured using conventional methods. For that reason, the shape emerging from TO was remodelled to achieve smooth and continuous geometry for its manufacturability purpose. This AM ready model was deliberated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The results were compared with conventional part using mass reduction and safety factor criteria. The final optimised jet engine bracket achieved 51% mass reduction compared to actual bracket, with a minimum safety factor of 1.4. The results pointed out a significant role of TO and AM technologies in assisting humankind meet its demanding energy use and opportunities for AM implementation for the aircraft industry.