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Building The World's Largest Passenger Aircraft Wings - Part 3

Steve Minett, PhD & Chris Taylor, MBA

Creep Forming the Wing Curvature

The key to the aerodynamic performance of a wing is its curvature - and this is achieved on A380 through 'creep forming', which uses heat to stress the material to be formed - in this case high strength, age hardenable aluminium alloy; in the process it can be brought to a new, consistent, predetermined shape.

Eight of the ten top wing panels in an individual aircraft's wingset - are formed in this way. They are placed onto an individual template, different for each panel, and vacuum packed to hold them in place. Then they go into an autoclave – believed to be the biggest in Europe - to be baked in a temperature-critical environment for 24 hours, under 8.5 bars pressure. Once removed, the wing panels spring back to exactly the required curvature.

The autoclave was custom-designed, custom-built - and patented - as pre-existing processes could not have maintained the precise temperatures required. The 300 tonne, 42 metre long, 6 metre diameter, oven contains nine individually controlled heating units along its length, designed and controlled to hold exactly precise and identical temperatures everywhere throughout.

Bringing it all Together

A380 wing components from the sister sites including Filton, and other suppliers worldwide, together with the wing skins and stringers that have been manufactured at Broughton are then assembled in the new 83,500 square metre West Factory. The size of 12 football pitches, the West Factory is believed to be the largest new factory in the UK. 

Here, the stringers are attached to the wing skins in Low Voltage Electromagnetic Riveting (LVER) machines: the skins with stringers attached are then loaded into four-storey high assembly scaffolds or ‘jigs’ where the other wing components - the leading and trailing edges, the ribs and spars - are brought together and bolted into place. The next stage is equipping, when the wiring and hydraulics will be installed, and a final coat of anti-corrosion paint is added before preparing to the wings are delivered to the aircraft final assembly line in Toulouse, where the moving surfaces will be installed.

Physical Challenges Resolved

For other aircraft models, Airbus uses the 'Beluga' - a specially adapted A300 Airbus aircraft (named after the great white whale) designed specifically to carry aircraft sections between the different Airbus international sites. However, the assembled A380 wings will be too large to be transported in this way; the wings will travel from Broughton to the final assembly line in Toulouse over the sea to Bordeaux via Mostyn Docks in North Wales then by sea to Bordeaux. River barges, ro-ro ferries and road trailers have already been specially commissioned for this purpose.

In total, over £500 million will have been invested in machinery, tools, buildings, and transportation arrangements within the UK: this is almost one quarter of the total sum - £2 billion - Airbus in the UK is investing in the design, manufacture and assembly of the high-tech A380 wings.

The investment confirms the UK's leadership in setting the pace of technological innovation in the design and build of aircraft wings.

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