Aerospace and defence product design and engineering
Brackets, equipment trays, avionics enclosures and small airframes developed from a first specification to production parts, with vibration and thermal analysis done early enough that your qualification tests confirm a design you already understand.
Aerospace and defence hardware is designed to tight mass budgets and then tested hard. Vibration tables, shock rigs, thermal chambers and static load rigs are expensive to book and slow to repeat, so a failed test costs far more than the part. Many of those failures go back to decisions made months earlier: a bracket whose first mode sits inside the test spectrum, or a pocketed fitting that saves mass on paper and then moves when it is unclamped from the machine.
More about aerospace and defence
Those decisions are cheapest to get right at the start. The specification sets mass and envelope targets, the load and test levels the part must meet and what the machine shop needs to make it, and several concepts are compared against it. In detail design, FEA shows stress, deflection and natural frequencies of fittings and mounts, while CFD with conjugate heat transfer shows how avionics are cooled and how air moves over a pod or a small airframe. The engineering pack then gives your suppliers drawings they can quote and machine from.
Analysis informs design and test planning. Qualification and airworthiness stay with your programme and the authorities it answers to, and our results are reported against the loads, factors and code or standard you specify to support your own approval. Prototypes can be machined in aluminium or stainless steel, printed in polymer, or a mix of the two, so fit and function are tested before production parts are ordered.
Typical products: equipment brackets and trays, avionics and electronics enclosures, rugged transit cases, ground support equipment, UAV airframes and payload mounts, and vibration test fixtures.
Problems we help aerospace and defence teams solve
Will the bracket carry limit and ultimate loads?
Stress and deflection under the load cases you specify, including combined inertial loads in each axis, with margins against yield and ultimate strength.
Does a mount resonate inside the vibration spectrum?
Natural frequencies and mode shapes of brackets, equipment trays and mounted units, set against the frequency range in your vibration test specification.
How much mass can come out of the part?
Pocketing, thinner webs or a change of alloy compared for the mass they save against the stiffness and strength they cost, with walls kept to thicknesses that can be machined without chatter or distortion.
Can the assembly be made from fewer pieces?
A bracket built from several plates and fasteners redesigned as one machined part, or a machined part redrawn as formed sheet metal, with the effect on mass and strength shown before drawings go out.
Will the avionics stay within temperature limits?
Board and component temperatures in sealed, fan-cooled or conduction-cooled boxes at worst-case ambient and altitude, where thinner air carries less heat away.
What loads does the airflow put on a UAV or pod?
Lift, drag and surface pressure on small airframes, pods and fairings across the speeds and attitudes you care about, ready to apply to the structure.
Stages and studies most used in aerospace and defence
Specification
Mass and envelope targets, load and test levels, materials and the standard you work to, agreed with you before any geometry is drawn.
Concept design
Several layouts for a bracket, tray or enclosure, sketched and backed by calculations, compared on mass and on how easily each can be machined.
Stress analysis
Linear static and contact analysis of brackets, fittings, frames and bolted joints for every load case you define.
Vibration and modal analysis
Natural frequencies, mode shapes and harmonic response, to keep primary modes clear of engine, rotor and test excitation.
Electronics thermal management
Conjugate heat transfer through boards, chassis, wedge locks and cold walls for avionics and mission electronics.
Thermal stress analysis
Stress where materials with different expansion coefficients meet, such as aluminium housings with steel inserts, across the hot and cold cases of the operating envelope.
Engineering Pack
Manufacturing drawings with the tolerances, datums, finishes and material specifications your suppliers need to quote and make the part.
Prototype & Test
Machined or additive prototypes and low-volume pre-production builds, tested against the specification before production parts are ordered.
Before you start
What to send us
- CAD of the part or assembly (STEP or native), or drawings to work from
- Load cases: inertial, interface, pressure and thermal
- Vibration and shock levels from your test specification
- Materials, tempers and the allowables you work to
- Power dissipation, ambient and altitude for thermal studies
- Mass targets, the factors you apply and the code or standard you specify
Can analysis replace qualification testing?
No. It lowers the risk of a failed test and helps decide where accelerometers and strain gauges go, but qualification still rests on the test evidence your programme requires.
Can you work to our load cases and factors?
Yes. Studies use the load cases, fitting factors and ultimate factors you specify, and margins are reported on that basis to support your own approval.
Can you take on a part that is already designed?
Yes. You can bring a single stage, such as analysis of an existing bracket or a drawing pack for a design you already have, and we pick up from your CAD or drawings.
How is altitude handled in thermal studies?
Air density falls with altitude, and convective cooling falls with it, so the case is run at the air pressure of your worst-case altitude.
Tell us about the part that has to pass
