Integrating Non-CAD Data With Reverse Engineering Tools

Aircraft design may require use of geometry that is not readable by the CAD system being used. Most notably, since aircrafts always stay in service longer than the CAD system that helped build them, such geometry will be pre-CAD real aircraft parts and the tools for manufacturing them. Other cases are data from deformed parts (real and virtual), output from analysis programs and flexible parts in a given position. Geometry from these sources can be read by the CAD system using Reverse Engineering tools and then be further processed in computer applications as required, either by itself or combined with CAD data from other sources. While this is not an every day requirement, the cases that do require such data usually have no other practical solution. This paper describes the practices used at IAI for such procedures and the lessons learned.