ABBC-OPT1

Sorry for the long text that follows but it contains pertinent details for the justification of this ABBC-OPT1 design. The suggested part design for this Airplane Bearing Bracket Challenge (ABBC) is the result of several steps: 1. Execution of a preliminary analysis using the finite element method through ANSYS Workbench R15; 2. Evaluation of the optimal bracket through a topology optimization by using Solidthinking INSPIRE 2015; 3. Design of the bracket within SolidWorks; 4. Validation of the structural strength of the bracket with ANSYS Worbench; 5. Generation of the support structures by using Magics 17 from Materialise. The objectives were to lower the mass of the bracket while its Von Mises stress is kept under the yield strength of the prescribed material for all of the three load cases imposed. The material specified, a stainless steel alloy 15-5PH, has been noted to have mechanical properties very similar to the the EOS StainlessSteel PH1 alloy dedicated to the additive system EOS M290 system (EOS Gmbh, Krailing, Germany). The bracket design has been intended in the Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) paradigm in order to optimize the resulting part. Such a paradigm includes the focus on the lowering of the buy-to-fly ratio, the use of intricate geometries that are not convenient for conventional manufacturing processes, the elimination of the tooling and jigs for needed for fabrication and the lowering of the lead time associated part fabrication. However, the DFAM principles also include the concerns about the minimization of the required support structure used to produce such a metallic part with the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process. The minimization of the building height should also be a concern in order to reduce the build time which increase drastically with the number of the required layers. This also implies to have a significant amount of raw powder material in stock in order to be able to make only one part. Conversely, a maximum build h