Business-to-Business Virtual Collaboration of Aircraft Engine Combustor Design

Abstract

In today’s fast-changing economy, product designs are becoming increasingly complex while demands for faster design cycles never cease. Tighter collaboration among business partners and streamlined integration of engineering processes have become a dominating factor in expediting time to market and succeeding in the competitive global environment. With modern computer-aided design/engineering solutions and revolutionary Internet technologies, such realtime business-to-business (B2B) design collaboration becomes a reality. This paper discusses various emerging technologies that enable a true B2B virtual collaboration of aircraft engine combustor design between GE Aircraft Engines — a jet engine manufacturer, and Parker Hannifin — a gas turbine fuel nozzle supplier. A case study involving the collaborative design and analysis of a fuel nozzle is also presented which demonstrates the realistic implementation of these new technologies.