InSIDE

The project InSiDE is concerned with the analysis of water emergency landing of commercial aircraft. The objectives of the project are the industrialization and the further development of a simulation procedure for analysing ditching events of aircraft.

Aircrafts must also be capable to land safely on open water in case of emergencies. The issue is of fundamental importance to aircraft manufacturers, who must demonstrate for aircraft certification that the occupants will not be harmed during the water landing and that the fuselage damage remains small enough that sufficient floatation time remains for the evacuation. The procedures used to prove this must be approved by the airworthiness authorities, but do not have to be certified, and allow service providers to be involved.

The object of the project is the industrialization and further development  of an officially approved simulation procedure for analysing the ditching behaviour of commercial aircraft and its integration into the design process. In particular, computational models for fluid-structure interaction in two-way coupling will be used for further development. These models will allow a comprehensive analysis of critical sections, including global and local structural deformations, and will be setup and validated with higher-order coupled simulation techniques (FEM, multiphase CFD). In addition, models to account for handling effects (trim, ground effect aerodynamics, etc.) will be integrated. The procedure should enable design investigations in the early design phase and operate in near real-time.