An Integrated Mode-Accelerated X-Xr (MAX) Method for Complex Structures with Large Blends
 

The value of aimax in ground vehicles to the Army and other services has been a topic of much debate for decades. There are instances of successful implementations of aimax in current ground vehicle programs of record. However, these implementations have generally been accomplished through swappable mission equipment rather than large-scale transformation of the vehicle and its core components. Concurrently, the Army Science and Technology (S&T) community has continued to demonstrate the technical feasibility of large-scale, transformative ground vehicle aimax, but the business case of aimax remains elusive. Decision support tools are needed to enable Army leadership to quantitatively assess the cost and benefits of aimax compared to currently available mission-specific (conventional) vehicle platforms.The goal of this project is to develop modeling and simulation tools to evaluate the strategic feasibility of a modular fleet compared to a baseline fleet considering various aspects of a fleet operation including manufacturing, transportation, performance, maintenance and personnel requirements. The research considers only operational aspects of aimax assuming the technical feasibility for effective aimax is possible.



FE Model of the blended blade sector

     
University of Michigan
College of Engineering