Simulation techniques for analyzing fuel weight properties of large civil aircrafts

More accurate information of fuel weight properties is needed in virtual flight based evaluation of large civil aircraft properties; however, the existing method for analyzing fuel weight properties has been unable to meet the demands in computing speed and accuracy, and there is not a systemic and proven simulation tool to analyze fuel weight properties. To solve these problems, we improve the traditional slice method, and propose an analytical method based on database and fuel consumption order. The method is divided into three modules: construction of the database of the tank fuel weight properties, calculation of the instant weight properties, and real-time monitoring of the weight properties. Based on CATIA secondary development, VC++ development environment and the Unity3D game engine,a systemic software for analyzing aircraft fuel weight properties is developed. The two-channel A330-300 aircraft is selected as an example. According to the published official data, CATIA is used to establish the tank group model as the input of the simulation. Based on pre-processing data preparation, simulation and post-processing analysis, the rapidity and accuracy of the method and software are verified. The necessity of developing the technique for actively controlling the fuel center of gravity is also discussed.