Research database

The project “Digital Twin for Human Centred Design (HCD) of Future Aircraft” aims to develop HCD procedures based on the use of high-fidelity virtual replicas of real aircraft, often referred to as Digital Twins (DTs). The development of the new design procedures will focus onto two main targets based on the integration of liveware as the most important part of DTs: 1. the improvement of the cabin comfort for the passengers and the crew; 2. the improvement of safety in aircraft operations. With regards to the first goal, it is well established that Airliners are paying great attention to the influence of Noise and Vibrations - N&Vs on the comfort of passengers, viewing comfort as one of the main aircraft quality indicators. On the other hand, N&Vs can deeply affect pilots at their workplace inside the cockpit by increasing their psychophysical fatigue, particularly in the case of long haul flights. Pilot fatigue is one of the most critical issues in aviation human factors, since it can lead to a degradation of the pilot performance thus increasing the likelihood of pilot error. For this reason, pilot fatigue is considered to be one of the leading causes of aircraft accidents and incidents and the monitoring of pilot condition and performances is one of the main goals to improve aviation safety. Thus, in the framework of a HCD philosophy, flight simulator, extended reality and refined numerical tools for multiscale structural analyses are integrated to obtain DTs of the real aircraft allowing the improvement of the cabin/cockpit comfort as well as aviation safety. To achieve this goal, the project will be articulated into 3 main phases: 1. implementation of a virtual cabin/cockpit environment by means of extended reality, allowing to evaluate the objective and subjective comfort perception of the different implemented layout by both passengers and crew; 2. multi-scale analysis of innovative materials to be used in aircraft structures and vibroacoustic simulation to evaluate the noise reduction with respect to standard materials. By doing so, it will be possible to develop innovative passive treatments for lining panels of cockpit and cabin. 3. use of a full flight simulator for: • a deep understanding of the influence of noise and vibration on the pilot performances and on the passenger comfort; • the evaluation of the different virtual cabin/cockpit layout during simulated flight and the different effects on comfort; • the evaluation of the pilot workload and performance under enhanced comfort conditions in terms of noise reduction coming from the possible use of passive treatments for lining panels. For this purpose, the project will exploit the expertise of dedicated research groups coming from the Politecnico di Torino (POLITO, coordinator), Università di Bologna (UNIBO) and Università degli Studi di Enna Kore (UNIKORE).