Airlines have a lot of pressure to reduce the weight (and consequently the fuel consumption) of their fleet. For example, United Airlines have been able to reduce the weight of the inflight magazine by 28 grams by using lighter paper. That translates to a reduction of 643,000 liters of fuel a year.

In this context, Topology Optimization is a technique that is massively used to reduce the weight of all the non-structural parts of the aircraft. The simulations performed in this project helped the client finding where to remove material without affecting the performance of the tray (Yes: “performance”. An aircraft tray must be able to bear a load of about 67 kg!)

Volume Fraction values

Deformation of the tray