On aircraft simulation in conceptual design

Sammanfattning: The aerospace industry has a long tradition of using Model Based Systems Engineering in its development processes. Throughout the years an extensive library of system simulation models has been created, expanding with every new model being developed. Nevertheless, modelling and simulation engineers prefer developing their own models from scratch, as the reuse of legacy models seems cumbersome, leading to the simultaneous existence of multiple simulation models of the same system in a project. Not only does the development, verification and validation and maintenance of these multiple simulation models incur extra costs, but they also represent a potential threat to the aircraft development, as data consistency is more difficult to be ensured. The aim of this thesis is to investigate simulation model reuse during the aircraft development process, with the goal of creating an easy-to-reconfigure simulation framework, allowing for the inclusion of simulation models of various levels of fidelity. Through an industry-as-laboratory approach, the inclusion of industry-grade legacy system simulation models is investigated, with the help of simulation model integration standards such as Functional Mock-up Interface and System Structure and Parametrisation. The results of the work include the development of a proof-of-concept simulation framework that enables the aggregation, integration and reuse of simulation models from different technological domains and with different levels of fidelity. Moreover, the work proposes a workflow that streamlines the decision milestones when faced with the possibility of selecting between creating a new system simulation model or reusing a legacy one, and highlights the challenges associated with model reuse from both a technical and an organisational perspective.