All Courses
All Courses
Courses by Software
Courses by Semester
Courses by Domain
Tool-focused Courses
Machine learning
POPULAR COURSES
Success Stories
MODELLING OF BOEING 747-8 IN SOLIDWORKS Aim and Objective: To sketch and model every exterior part of the Boeing 747-8 Aircraft under the part modelling and surface modelling environment using the Solidworks. To assemble the modelled parts in the assembly environment. To create a photo realistic rendering of the Boeing…
Dwarampudi Manikanta Ammi Reddy
updated on 06 Jun 2021
MODELLING OF BOEING 747-8 IN SOLIDWORKS
Aim and Objective:
What is Part Modelling?
Modelling in general means to create a virtual prototype of an item. It can be used for various purposes. Consider the Engine of the car. Each part can be modelled separately and then can be assembled together to get the engine's final form modelling.
Parts and Sub-assemblies to be modelled in Boeing 747:
Introduction to Boeing 747-8:
The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the latest and largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to Airbus A3XX. The stretched 747 Advanced was launched as the 747-8 on November 14, 2005, for a market forecast of 300 aircraft. The first 747-8F Freighter performed its maiden flight on February 8, 2010, and the passenger 747-81 Intercontinental followed suit on March 20, 2011. The cargo version was first delivered in October 2011 and the airliner began commercial service in June 2012.
The 747-8 was the first lengthened 747 to go into production and the second 747 version with a fuselage of modified length after the shortened 747SP.
The passenger version, named 747-8 was formally launched on November 14, 2005, by Boeing. It can carry up to 410 passengers in a typical three-class configuration over a range of 8,000 nmi (14.310 km) at Mach 0.855
Wing Span 68.45 m
Length 76.25 m
Height 19.35 m
Power Plant 4 x GEnx-2B67(296 KN)
Engine Model General Electric GEnx
1.Blueprint Set Up:
There are three different views (Front Side & Top) used in the Blueprint Setup. By using The Sketch Picture option, the images are inserted and the required dimensions are given to the images.
Fig: Blueprint Setup
The Fuselage is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, and cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine, as well, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage, which in turn is used as a floating hull. The fuselage also serves to position control and stabilization surfaces in specific relationships to lifting surfaces, which is required for aircraft stability and manoeuvrability.
Fig: Fuselage
2.Belly Fairing:
Belly Fairing also called a "ventral fairing, it is located on the underside of the Fuselage between the main Wings. It can also cover additional cargo storage or fuel tanks.
In an aircraft comprising a fuselage and a belly fairing, the fairing is made of two independent parts. For example, a first part of the fairing comprises a front section, a central section and a first portion of a rear section. A second part of the fairing comprises a second portion of the rear section. The second part can shift relative to the first part of the fairing. Also disclosed is a belly fairing for aircraft comprising two independent parts.
Belly fairing is created using Boss Extrude, Fillet, Mirror and Combine Command.
Fig. Belly Fairing
4.Nose Cone:
Found at the foremost point of an aircraft, a nose cone must be aerodynamic in order to reduce drag on a plane. On most commercial and military aircraft, the nose cone also houses radar and other instruments that might be used to detect meteorological phenomena, track enemy aircraft or transmit communication signals.
The Ribs which are available in the Nose cone are conductive strips drain stack electricity to the middle hole aft of the cone. Nose itself is made of quartz insulator.
On airliners the nose cone is also used for protecting the weather radar from aerodynamic forces.
Fig: Nose Cone
5.Pitot Tubes:
Pitot tubes are also known as pitot probes. Pitot tube is a flow measurement device used to measure fluid flow velocity Pitot tube is widely used to determine the air speed of the aircraft.
Basically, a pitot tube is used in wind tunnel experiments and on airplanes to measure flow speed. It's a slender tube that has two holes on it. The side hole measures the static pressure. By measuring the difference between these pressures, you get the dynamic pressure, which can be used to calculate airspeed.
There are four pitot tubes available in the Boeing 747-8 Aircraft. Two pitot tubes are placed in the right side of the aircraft and other two on the other side of the aircraft.
The Pitot-static system is used to determine and display
Large Pitot-static system errors can be hazardous
Fig: Pitot tubes
6.Cockpit Windows:
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit is the section where the pilot and the co-pilot manage the aircraft. The two main functions of the cockpit are; to provide the pilot with a good angle and to make all control mechanisms accessible to them. Planes are also designed based on the same principle of any vehicle.
The cockpit of the plane is where the plane is controlled. This section is like an office for pilot and co-pilot. All data is transmitted to the pilot and co-pilot with the help of panels within this section to ensure that the aircraft can fly stably. This is also a special section equipped with security systems, by which the aircraft is controlled. Thus, the cockpit provides every data about the plane and is designed to give the pilots a good angle during flight.
Function of cockpit:
The cockpit is the section where all data about aircraft and flight is transmitted to pilots via screens. The aircraft can be manually managed thanks to the control mechanisms within this section. There are also communication panels. All information about the plane is sent to the control towers through this system. The cockpit windows are made from laminated thermally tempered glasses sand- wiched with urethane and vinyl (PPG is one of the major suppliers of cockpit or window transparencies). Often three sheets of 6 mm toughened glass with thick PVB (Poly Vinyl Butyric) are used.
Fig: Cockpit Windows
7.Windsheild Wipers:
Wipers are potentially used in take-off and landings. Wipers of aircraft have different speed settings as in the cars.
Windshield wipers, still in use even on the Boeing 747, are highly effective at sweeping rain and snow away from aircraft windshields, but with the higher speeds of jets, other innovative methods were employed to maintain good pilot visibility during approaches and departures in bad weather.
Fig: Windshield Wipers
8.Passenger Windows:
A cabin window consists of three panes,
The main thing to know in the aircraft cabin windows are not made of glass, but with something called "stretched acrylic.
Boeing 747-8 aircraft has 250 passenger windows. The outer pane is 12mm thick and the inner pane 4mm thick. They are separated by a 6mm edge chamfer.
Fig: Passenger Windows
9.Doors and Hatches:
There are 6 doors on each side of the Boeing 747-8. The top above the cockpit the cockpit escape hatch is placed. On the right side of the fuselage there are 3 hatches available. One at the front two at the rear side of the fuselage. The plug door is often seen on aircraft with pressurized cabins. Due to the air pressure within the aircraft cabin being higher than that of the surrounding with multiple pins or hatch dogs to prevent opening while in flight.
Fig: Doors and Hatches
10.Lights and Antennas:
There are 2 lights and 3 antennas as created in the Boeing 747-8 mode. The lights are on the back side of the cockpit. The two antennas are in the top of the fuselage and one in the beneath of the fuselage.
Aircraft use collision avoidance lighting systems to warn other aircraft of their presence. These lights include landing lights, red or white flashing beacons, wingtip strobes, and wingtip navigation lights. The wingtip navigation lights are required to consist of a red light on the left wingtip and a green light on the right wingtip. Landing lights are used during the descent and approach to landing, and at other times if deemed necessary by the flight crew or operator.
Most aircraft VHF communications antennas are Marconi antennas. They are vertically polarized and create a field that is omnidirectional. On fabric skinned aircraft, the ground plane that makes up the second one-fourth wavelength of the antenna must be fashioned under the skin where the Marconi antenna is mounted.
There are different types of antennas available in the aircraft. The following are the common antennas available,
Fig: Lights and Antenna
11.Auxillary power unit (APU):
An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles.
An aircraft auxiliary power unit serves as an additional energy source normally used to start one of the main engines on an airliner or business jet. The APU is equipped with an extra electrical generator to create enough power to operate onboard lighting, galley electrics and cockpit avionics, usually while the aircraft is parked at the gate. Drawing bleed air from its own compressor, an APU also drives the environmental packs used to heat and cool the aircraft.
And most important, operating an APU negates the need to start one of the aircraft's main engines while waiting for passengers to arrive. thereby saving on fuel and maintenance for a more expensive power plant.
APU produces 150 Volts 400 to 500 Hertz current to operate the aircraft systems.
Fig: Auxiliary power unit (APU)
The stabilizers job is to provide stability for the aircraft, to keep it flying straight. The vertical stabilizer keeps the nose of the plane from swinging from side to side, which is called yaw. The horizontal stabilizer prevents an up- and down motion of the nose, which is called pitch.
A vertical stabilizer, vertical stabiliser, or fin of an aircraft, missile, bomb, or car are typically found on the aft end of the fuselage or body, and are intended to reduce aerodynamic side slip and provide direction stability. It is analogous to a skeg on boats and ships.
On aircraft. vertical stabilizers generally point upwards. These are also known as the vertical tail, and are part of an aircraft's empennage. This upright mounting position has two major benefits: The drag of the stabilizer increases at speed, which creates a nose-up moment that helps to slow down the aircraft and prevent dangerous overspeed; and when the aircraft banks, the stabilizer produces lift which counters the banking moment and keeps the aircraft upright in the absence of control input. If the vertical stabilizer was mounted on the underside, it would produce a positive feedback whenever the aircraft dives or banks, which is inherently unstable. The trailing end of the stabilizer is typically movable, and called the rudder, this allows the aircraft pilot to control yaw.
Fig: Vertical Stabilizer
13.Horizontal Stabilizer:
At the rear of the fuselage of most aircraft one finds a horizontal stabilizer and an elevator. The stabilizer is a fixed wing section whose job is to provide stability for the aircraft, to keep it flying straight. The horizontal stabilizer prevents up-and-down, or pitching, motion of the aircraft nose.
The elevator is the small moving section at the rear of the stabilizer that is attached to the fixed sections by hinges. Because the elevator moves, it varies the amount of force generated by the tail surface and is used to generate and control the pitching motion of the aircraft. There is an elevator attached to each side of the fuselage. The elevators work in pairs: when the right elevator goes up, the left elevator also goes up. This slide shows what happens when the pilot deflects the elevator.
Fig: Horizontal Stabilizer
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift, while moving through air or some other fluid. As such, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as aerofoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expressed as its lift-to-drag ratio. The lift a wing generates at a given speed and angle of attack can be one to two orders of magnitude greater than the total drag on the wing. A high lift-to-drag ratio requires a significantly smaller thrust to propel the wings through the air at sufficient lift.
An airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing, blade (of a propeller, rotor, or turbine), or sail (as seen in cross-section).
Aircraft wings may feature some of the following:
A flap is a high-lift device used to reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft wing at a given weight. Flaps are usually mounted on the wing trailing edges of a fixed-wing aircraft. Flaps are used to reduce the take-off distance and the landing distance. Flaps also cause an increase in drag so they are retracted when not needed.
The flaps installed on most aircraft are partial-span flaps: spanwise from near the wing root to the inboard end of the ailerons. An aileron is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft.
Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around the aircraft's longitudinal axis). which normally results in a change in flight path due to the tilting of the lift vector. Movement around this axis is called ' rolling' or ' banking
Boeing 747-8 has two flaps and two ailerons in both the wings.
Fig: Wings, Flaps and Ailerons
16.Flap Track Fairing:
A flap is a high-lift device used to reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft wing at a given weight. Flaps are usually mounted on the wing trailing edges of a fixed-wing aircraft. Flaps are used to reduce the take-off distance and the landing distance. Boeing 747-8 has 8 flap track fairings 4 in the right-side wing and 4 in the left side wing.
Fig: Flap Track Fairings
17.Landing Gear Hatches Closed:
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft and may be used for either take-off or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called alighting gear by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company. For aircraft, Stinton makes the terminology distinction undercarriage.
For aircraft, the landing gear supports the craft when it is not flying, allowing it to take off, land, and taxi without damage. Wheeled landing gear is the most common with skis or floats needed to operate from snow/ice/water and skids for vertical operation on land. Faster aircraft have retractable undercarriages, which fold away during flight to reduce drag.
Some unusual landing gear have been evaluated experimentally. These include: no landing gear (to save weight), made possible by operating from a catapult cradle and flexible landing deck, air cushion (to enable operation over a wide range of ground obstacles and water/snow/ice). tracked (to reduce runway loading).
18.Landing Gear Hatches Open:
Landing Gear hatches will be basically open when the aircraft landings. This will be in the open condition only when the aircraft is in the land. The landing gear hatches will be closed once the aircraft takes off, the landing gear goes inside and the hatches will be closed.
Fig: Landing Gear Hatches Open
19.Engine:
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft Air propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors.
In commercial aviation the major Western manufacturers of turbofan engines are Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and CFM International
A turbojet is a type of gas turbine engine that was originally developed for military fighters during World War II. A turbojet is the simplest of all aircraft gas turbines. It consists of a compressor to draw air in and compress it, al combustion section where fuel is added and ignited, one or more turbines that extract power from the expanding exhaust gases to drive the compressor, and an exhaust nozzle that accelerates the exhaust gases out the back of the engine to create thrust.
"The engine provides 66,500lb of thrust."... The engine selected for the aircraft is the GEnx-2867, the General Electric next-generation engine. The design of the 747-8 aircraft engine is a slightly modified variant of the GEnx engine developed for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The engine provides 66,500lb of thrust.
Fig: Engine
An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising color, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators (airlines. governments, air forces and occasionally private and corporate owners) apply to their aircraft.
Fig: Livery
Sub-Assemblies:
1.Nose Gear Assembly:
Nose gear has parts like Nose Gear base, Suspension Arms and Wheels. The parts are initially modelled and the parts are inserted into the assembly environment and the sub assembly is created for the Nose gear. In the Boeing 747-8 one Nose gear assembly is used. There are two wheels in the nose gear assembly.
Fig: Wheel
Fig: Nose Gear Base
Fig: Nose Gear Suspension Arm
Fig: Nose Gear Assembly
2.Main Gear Assembly:
The Main Gear Assembly consists of the main gear base. two main gear suspension arms and four wheels
The parts for the main gear assembly are created initially then the parts are inserted into the assembly environment and Main Gear assembly is created.
There are four main landing gears available in the Boeing 747-8. Each landing gear consists of four wheels. All the main landing gears are in the nearer to the rear side of the fuselage.
Fig: Main Gear Base
Fig: Main Gear Suspension Arm
Fig: Main Gear Assembly
Boeing 747-8 Assembly:
After completing the livery part the main body (Fuselage with all parts) are inserted into the assembly environment. Then the engine is inserted to the assembly.
The engine is assembled with the main body by applying the coincidence and distance mates between the engine and fuselage planes Then by using the move/copy command other engines are created in the Assembly.
The same steps are followed for the Nose Gear and Main Gear assembly. The mate conditions are created between the Main, Nose Gear sub assembly and the Fuselage Finally the Boeing 747-8 is assembled.
There are different types of mates used in this project to assemble the parts together. The following are the mate conditions used in the assembly.
Gear mates are one of the important mates and condition plays a major role in the movements of the landing gear. The gear mate is applied between the landing gears. If we move the Nose gear assembly the Main gear assembly also moves as same as the real one. The gear ratio is provided between the mates because of this ratio the gears will have moved in the proper manner.
Following are some renders down with assembly of Boeing:
Conclusion:
In this project the various parts of the Boeing 747-8 were modelled with the different Environments Surface modelling. Solid modelling and assembly available in the Solidworks. The Assembly of the Boeing 747-8 is rendered with Photoview 360 and Solidworks Visualize to create a real view of the model with the environment.
Leave a comment
Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all the comments are moderated as per our comment policy, and your email will not be published for privacy reasons. Please leave a personal & meaningful conversation.
Other comments...
Week 14 challenge
Butterfly ValveAim: The aim of the project is to assemble a butterfly valve using the individual parts created using NX.Procedure:1. Create a new assembly tab in Nx and create a new assembly.2. Go to insert components feature and insert all the individual components to the assembly module.2. Now rather than mixing all…
17 Nov 2024 03:42 AM IST
Week 6 Challenge
Challenge 6Introduction: This challenge involves creating material properties, defining loads, boundary conditions and applying constraints to the tension fitting geometry developed in the previous challenge.Objective: The primary objective of the class 6 Challenge is to demonstrate the ability to set up material properties,…
19 May 2024 12:39 AM IST
Boeing-747 _ Final_Project
MODELLING OF BOEING 747-8 IN SOLIDWORKS Aim and Objective: To sketch and model every exterior part of the Boeing 747-8 Aircraft under the part modelling and surface modelling environment using the Solidworks. To assemble the modelled parts in the assembly environment. To create a photo realistic rendering of the Boeing…
06 Jun 2021 06:19 AM IST
Radar Mast & Final Assembly of Yacht
Report on Sun Seeker Predator Yacht Objective: To design individual parts of the yacht with fully defined sketches and appropriate appearances. To assemble all the individual parts of the yacht model by assigning suitable constraints. To render the yacht model by adding appearances, decals, lights, cameras,…
19 Feb 2021 12:37 PM IST
Related Courses
Skill-Lync offers industry relevant advanced engineering courses for engineering students by partnering with industry experts.
© 2025 Skill-Lync Inc. All Rights Reserved.