Product Code: ICAL07_1204

Enhanced Laser Percussion Drilling Modeling Utility
Authors:
Devdas Shetty, University of Hartford; West Hartford CT USA
Ivana M. Milanovic, University of Hartford; West Hartford CT USA
Tom A. Eppes, University of Hartford; West Hartford CT USA
J. Bornas, University of Hartford; West Hartford CT USA
Presented at ICALEO 2007

The supply chain within the aerospace industry is in the midst of a significant transformation. In decades past, components and assemblies were produced by a few highly vertically integrated companies. Today, the supply chain is disaggregated as components and assemblies are sourced on a global scale from an increasing number of specialty suppliers. Many of these suppliers are small to medium-sized companies who lack the engineering personnel to develop and optimize complex manufacturing processes. One such process is laser percussion drilling which is widely used in the aerospace industry to produce cooling holes in jet engine components. A variety of theoretical models have been developed to predict the outcome of the drilling process. However, to utilize these models often requires sophisticated thermo-fluid software to perform the required numerical analyses. Many small to mid-sized companies have difficulty applying these models, and therefore rely largely on experimental techniques to tailor their production processes. To provide these companies with a simple and easy to use computer utility, we developed an application called DREAM (Drilling Routine for Estimating, Analyzing and Modeling). DREAM is a free-standing, MATLAB-based design that provides a convenient and flexible way to predict a variety of drilling process outcomes and can be executed on any Windows-based PC. An Alpha version of DREAM was released in 2006 and feedback from the user community has been positive. This paper discusses new features that have been incorporated into the 2007 Beta release of DREAM.