Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) and Airbus collaborated on development and deployment of ASRP (Assembly Simulation of Riveting Process) software complex. ASRP is a specific and exceptional software solution with a great deal of complexity. It is said to be the only supercomputer code developed by the University that is officially deployed in Airbus. From now this mathematical solution is allocated into the company's technological chain and is being used.

Speeding-up airframe assembly process is one of the most important tasks for Airbus due to a limited time for aircraft assembly and impressive backlog for most popular models. Being a partner, the Polytech University in Saint Petersburg has been working on simulation of the airframe assembly process and optimization of the assembly technology for over a decade, and the company delegated the University to elaborate this issue.

The main challenge for simulation of the assembly process was about solving the contact problem for determination of deformed stress state of the assembly exerted by the forces generated by fastening elements. The standard commercial FEM codes were not of a high value so far due to complexity of the issue and a large number of unknowns. A team of experts from Virtual Modeling Lab of Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics SPbPU started working on this project. And, as a result, the special mathematical model combining dimension reduction with the use of the state-of-the-art optimization algorithms was developed and implemented in the sypercomputer code.

During the realization of the project the team of senior and young researchers has crystallized in the University as a specialized laboratory. The members of the laboratory have the internships in the Company carry out specific studies and effectively develop this research area.

ASRP was thoroughly tested by Airbus on many cases. ASRP now has TRL6 grade that means that it was fully tested and recommended for internal use by the company. Abbreviation TRL stands for Technology Readiness Level and it comes from NASA. Experts from St. Petersburg Polytech University were the first in Russia who got TRL 6 in Airbus. And it is definitively a rewarding achievement! 

The work on the project is under way. Presently experts from SPbPU work on optimization of assembly process for new generation of Airbus aircrafts.