National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering

(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016

Design and Analysis of the Main Assembly

Jig for a Multirole Civilian Aircraft’s Main
door
Niranjan A S Prasanta Kumar Samal
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
NIE Mysuru. NIE Mysuru.
niranjanshivamogga@gmail.com,

Abstract - Jigs are the mechanical elements which into two jigs namely main assembly and sub-
are used in assembly shop to hold and guide the assembly. Jigs of mainly two type based on
tool. Assembly of an aircraft is not possible without construction method modular jig and Double
a jig. In aircraft industry before series production bond jig. In modular jig high machining
they will develop the prototype for testing. The jig
accuracy is required. Hence cost is more, these
which is designed in this paper is for such a
application. It is to assemble the main door of the type jigs mainly used for mass production. In
multi role civilian aircraft. This jig is designed by double bond method jig resin/ M seal is used as a
considering the manufacturing aspects with in the double bond to get the exact location of the
tolerance of 50microns. Analysis of jig is main part locator.
in before fabrication, meshing is done in Hyper
mesh software and solved by ANSYS solver. And it II. PROBLEM DEFINITION
is proved that the design is safe.
In fig 1 the main door is shown. We need to
Keywords- Jigs and fixtures, aircraft assembly,
design a jig for the assembly of this door. Totally
double bond method
it consists of 65 parts. In main door total 116
I. INTRODUCTION parts are there but for this project locking
Air transport becoming popular day by day, mechanism is not considered because it doesn’t
traveling rate between the cities within the require any locators. The skin is not shown in
country is increasing. So, small civilian aircrafts fig. a 1.2mm thick Al sheet is used as skin. Study
are being used more and more. Companies are of the component is main thing. Because the
interest to invest in this new market. In aircraft shape of the locators are mainly depends upon
production accuracy and interchangeability is the shape and size of the component.
one of the main aspect. Jigs are used for this
purpose. In jigs locators are provided for the
accurate location of the locators. Small civilian
aircrafts not only plays the role of transport it can
be used as air ambulance, inspection, to provide
a service in a situation like earth quake, heavy
rain. Hence these aircrafts are know as Multi role
aircraft.

An aircraft consist of four doors. Main door,

Emergency door, Landing gear door, Service
door. Main door for passengers and goods
transport. Emergency door is used in case of
accidents. Landing gear door to open and close
of the landing nose. Service door will be near the Fig 1 Main door
engine it is to service the engine and its parts. In
this paper assembly jig for main door of the
multi role aircraft is presented. All the parts
can’t be assembled in a single jig so it is divided

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 National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016
III. CONSIDERATIONS
Some of the important design consideration
taken while designing the jigs are as follows.
Geometry of the component, Strength, Ease of
manufacturing, Easy to operate, Weight,
Clearance, Space available, Surface finish,
Datam
The jig should be stable enough to with stand the
static load (i.e., weight of the components) and
Dynamic load (i.e., riveting force). The jig
should be easy to operate, the locators should not
interfere with the components in loading and
unloading. The weight of the jig preferably
minimum, such that it can handle by operator, it
should not over weight such that it can’t be
moved from one place to another place. Enough
clearance should be there for operator and for
components to move in and out. The space
available for the jig is also one the main factor
sufficient space should be around the jig to carry
out operations. Some locators in the jig are going
to butted to the component’s flat face. Hence a
good knowledge of the manufacturing science,
manufacturing tolerance are considered. The
shape and size of the manufacturing should be
easy to manufacture within available facilities.
The butting surface should be grinded to have
the flatness. The shapes of the locator should
minimize the stress value, ideally deformation
should be zero. But practically it is not so. We
need to consider the welding aspects, heat
affected zones, machining tolerance. As the
prototype is being fabricated double bond
method is used.
A. Datam
Measurement is one of the important part in jig
inspection. For that datam pads are used as
reference. In a jig one datam pad is set to zero in
all co-ordinates, i.e., x=0, y=0,z=0. this will help
to create jig co-ordinate or local co-ordinate, and
also transfer the global co-ordinates or aircraft
co-ordinate. Jig co-ordinate is different from air
craft co-ordinate. Both should be matched while
assembly.
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Fig 2 Datam pad
B. Double bond method
As precision is main thing in the jig. These jigs
are using double bond method to get the accurate
position of the locator. There are two type of jig
construction. Modular type and Double bond
method. In modular high accuracy of machining
is required. The material used for modular jig
should be of wear resistance. And these modular
jig are costly, these type jigs mainly used for
mass production.
Fig 3. Double bond method
The main assembly and sub assembly jig
considered in this paper is for prototype
development. So the jig should be economy,
hence double bond method is used. In this a
double bond (usually M-seal) is put in between
the pads to lock the position. As seen in the fig 3,
locating pad is attached to the pads by lock nuts
and dowel pin. Dowel pins are mainly used to
lock the position and to get the same position in
the next assembly. Lock screw and jack screws
are used to lock the pad and adjust the height of
the locator respectively.
Back pads are welded to the structure and front
pads are attached to that in the assembly.
Locations are checked by LASER probe method.
It is most accurate method available to measure
the location for the jigs. After checking the
locations double bond is put to lock the position
of the locator. In case of the modular jig these
pads were not there as accurate machining of the
locating pad is done. Those locating pads are
directly welded to the structure.
IV. SUB ASSEMBLY JIG
Total 11 parts are considered for sub assembly.
Those are Hump, vertical channel, cross
 National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016
stiffener, inside handle brackets, outside handle
brackets, multi lever brackets, step end support.
For designing the sub assembly jig the material
used is Mild Steel. Young’s modulus is 210GPa.
Poisson’s ratio is 0.3, the square tube section of
80X80X6.3mm is used. For this designing the
detail study of the component drawing is first
step. From that the locators dimensions, total
weight that will come on the each locator, space
available for each locator.
Fig 4. Sub Assembly jig
Locating holes dimensions are also measured.
Hump locators are in a tapered shape reduce the
stress value and we need larger pad at the bottom
to lock by double bond. Because the final setting
of the double bond is done in assembly so
sufficient space is needed for operations.
Fig 5. Hump locator
In fig 4 Hump locator is shown the shape of the
hump locator taper in shape because as the area
increases the stress decrease and the taper
sections act as stiffeners hence no load is transfer
to the ground. While doing riveting a back
support is provided by the operator hence a little
load is transfer to the bottom structure while
doing riveting also.
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V. MAIN ASSEMBLY JIG
The parts which are assembled in sub assembly
jig along with the remaining parts are assembled
in main assembly jig. In fig 3 the hump assembly
is shown, this assembly will be done in sub
assembly jig.
Total 15 parts are considered for main assembly
as main parts. The remaining parts doesn’t need
locator. The parts which are coming with the
hump assembly are side frames, end brackets,
top longeron, bottom longeron, etc.,
Fig 6. Hump assembly
Fig 7. Main assembly jig
In main assembly jig, rotation of the top
structure facility is provided. It is for riveting of
the skin. Because after the assembly of parts
finally skin has to assembled to the door
skeleton. For that rotation of the assembled
component is essential, or else a separate jig or
off jig riveting has to done. Just for riveting a
 National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016

separate jig is not economy. In off jig assembly Fig 9 locator analysis
by the riveting force the door may deform.
The locator section is divided into 5 sections and
maximum stress reigon is calculated as
followings
A1 = 9900 mm2 y1 = 45
A2 = 700 mm2 y2 = 113.3
A3 = 4900 mm2 y3 = 125
A4 = 700mm2 y4 = 113.3
A5 = 1924.2 mm2 y5 = 174.85

(1)

Fig 8 Top longeron locator

While loading the components in main assembly
jig rotation of door at bottom axis is essential in
order to fit the parts. For that after setting the
position of the door locking pins are inserted to
lock the position. This operation is carried in
while doing assembly. Total 8 side frame
locators are provided for each locator a lock pin
and nut is used to hold the side frame. Apart
from this another 4 locating pads are in the jig
for holding the side frame while drilling
operation. Initial the component is with pilot
hole of dia 6.1mm (standard). These holes are
enlarged in assembly. For that purpose a drilling
bush and liner bush are inserted to the locating
pads. The locators are vertically downward to the
top structure each locator has it’s own length so
to avoid the bending / deviation all are connected
with the tube at 250mm from the top structure.
As the dimensions of the locating holes are
unique, the lock pins and nuts are designed for
this jig only.
Y= 102.79mm from top end and analysis results
shows the same.
B. Hollow circular shaft
Whatever the load applied that load is going to
transfer from top structure to bottom structure.
The connecting point is hollow circular shaft.
From the analysis results it can be seen that the
maximum stress region is at the circular shaft
only. For riveting operation the top structure has
to be rotate the whole load carried by circular
connecting element only. From the previous
studies it is well known that hollow shafts are
stronger and stiffer than solid shafts. Hence
hollow sections are chosen based on the
following calculation.
Mt =2940 X 150
= 441 KN-mm
(2)

VI. DESIGN Do = Outer dia of shaft

Mt = Moment
A. Theoretical support L = length of the shaft
K = Ratio of inner dia to outer dia
Some of the calculations are done before G = Modulus of rigidity
selecting the size and shape of material. First the ɵ = Angle of twist in radians
maximum stress region.
Do = 53.37 mm

From table circular shaft of 60 OD, 5mm thick is

selected.

(3)
Maximum shear stress developed is 20.35
N/mm2. Allowable shear stress is 114.7n/mm2

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 National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016

Twist

(4)
= 0.0022 degrees

Which is very negligible value

VII. ANALYSIS
There is no weightage for the design without
analysis. In this analysis of the main assembly
jig is considered. As the main assembly carries
most of the load. Hyper mesh software is used to
mesh the whole jig. 3D Tetra elements were used
for meshing. Totally 1087601 nodes and
3506448 elements were created for main jig.
Element size is 5.
Fig 9. Structural analysis
In deflection analysis deflection of the top
structure of jig with respect to loads is found. Is
the locator is able to sustain the load? Because
the structure is huge but the locator have smaller
dimensions and the load has to transfer to the jig
through locators only. So locators have enough
strength to sustain the load.

Boundary conditions
The bottom structure of the jig is fixed in all 6
DOF. All the load which is acting on jig is
vertically downward direction.

VIII. RESULTS

A. Locator Analysis
Fig 8. Meshed model
Locator is the main thing from which the locd is
transferd to jig structure. Hence a load is applied
RBE2 elements are used to connect the holes. to at lock pin of the locator. A load of 196 N is
Because they are rigid elements, they only applied to locator. The maximum deflection of
transfer the loads. For a jig like huge structure the locator is 0.3 microns.
the forces what we apply is very small. But in
aircraft industry accuracy is very important,
microns of deformation my lead to failure of the
component.

The analysis is done in the followings

 Structural analysis
 Deflection
 Locator analysis
In structural analysis the self-weight of the jig is
considered, weather structure is able to withstand
the self-weight and component’s weight. Total
weight of the jig is 600kg. 300kg is divided into
each supporting column. Fig 10 Maximum deflection of locator

B. Structure analysis

In this analysis of the bottom structure is

considered.

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 National Conference on Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
(NCMMME-2016), NIE Mysuru, Karnataka, India, May 23 – 24, 2016
The top structure and riveting force together
taken as 600KG. That force acts at two points
i.e., at bearing support.
Fig 11 Deflection of structure
Maximum stress induced is 8.22N/mm2 and
maximum deflection is 40 microns which is well
within the limit. Hence design is safe.
C. Riveting ( Dynamics)
The riveting gun frequency is 3 punches per
second. In this dynamic analysis modal analysis
is done to know the natural frequency of the
structure. So that riveting is not done at the
frequency. The following fig shows the results
Set No Frequency
1 21.3
2 35.6
Two modes are considered. Because the first
mode is 21.3 Hz. Which is much higher than the
riveting gun frequency. Hence jig will not reach
to resonance condition.
Fig 12 1st mode
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Fig 12 2nd mode
IX CONCLUSION
The results obtained from the analysis shows the
stresses induced at the load acting points. It can
be seen that the maximum stress developed in
the structure with load consideration is
8.23N/mm2, while the maximum allowable
stress value is 240 N/mm2. Hence the design is
safe.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Mr Mohan Naik C, scientist
E NAL and Mr Prasat Kumar Samal for their
valuable guidelines. I would like thank M V
Achutha, Head department of mechanical
engineering NIE and Mr Ravishankar Head C-
CADD NAL for giving the opportunity to do
completer my project work.
Reference
[1] Cyril Donaldson, “Tool design” 4th edition,
McGraw Hill education pvt. ltd.
[2] Westermann tables
[3] Machine tool design hand book. Central
Machine tool institute Bangalore
[4] M.K. Shanmugam, “Aircraft assembly”,
Legend Technologies pvt. ltd, edition, 2007
[5] Designer’s data base, Vol 1 & 2, NAL