Establishing a dynamic model and the design and structuralanalysis of lifting fixtures used in aircraft manufacturing

Lifting fixtures are used together with the overhead cranes to change the direction of a part or semi-assembled part to the next manufacturing site during the manufacturing processes of an aircraft or its parts. These fixtures are designed by taking into account the size, shape and weight of the aircraft parts, which may differ from the others. During the design process, to prevent unexpected failure modes the designers or engineers have to take into account some considerations such as the dynamic effects like lifting / transporting speed, acceleration, etc., which may cause the load to become unstable in use and unwanted situations beyond control, may occur. In this thesis, a method, which can be used for the design of lifting fixtures used in the aviation industry, has been developed. To generate an input data from a model that includes moving Aircraft subassemblies to another production stage by using overhead crane a dynamic model is developed with Matlab Simscape Multibody ™ software for the structural analysis of the lifting fixtures using the finite element method. Thus, standardization will be achieved in the design of such fixtures and unwanted situations that may arise from possible design errors will be prevented.