In this thesis, an aircraft door hinge assembly provided by Gulfstream Aerospace was analyzed following an established process called DFMA. The hinge was then redesigned to be additively manufactured, which is uncommon currently in industry for load bearing components. It was shown that the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines were inadequate when applied to the new technology of additive manufacturing (AM). This was primarily due to AM's unique and unprecedented manufacturing capabilities.
A conservative redesign approach was followed due to a limitation in current AM material properties and time available for analysis. Despite this, a significant improvement in weight reduction and part count was still achieved. The total weight of the hinge assembly was reduced approximately 22% and the number of parts reduced from six to two. This weight reduction is estimated to save $56,000 in fuel over the course of 6000 flight hours per hinge redesigned, totaling $112,000 per G650 aircraft. All design work and weight estimations were performed in CATIA V5.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this thesis, an aircraft door hinge assembly provided by Gulfstream Aerospace was analyzed following an established process called DFMA. The hinge was then redesigned to be additively manufactured, which is uncommon currently in industry for load bearing components. It was shown that the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines were inadequate when applied to the new technology of additive manufacturing (AM). This was primarily due to AM's unique and unprecedented manufacturing capabilities.</p> <p>A conservative redesign approach was followed due to a limitation in current AM material properties and time available for analysis. Despite this, a significant improvement in weight reduction and part count was still achieved. The total weight of the hinge assembly was reduced approximately 22% and the number of parts reduced from six to two. This weight reduction is estimated to save $56,000 in fuel over the course of 6000 flight hours per hinge redesigned, totaling $112,000 per G650 aircraft. All design work and weight estimations were performed in CATIA V5.</p>","abstract_has_math":true,"creators":["Schwarz, Kurt A."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:26:08Z","subjects":["aircraft","refueling door","additive manufacturing","Aerospace Engineering","Manufacturing","Mechanical Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/edt/283","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Schwarz, Kurt A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["aircraft","refueling door","additive manufacturing","Aerospace Engineering","Manufacturing","Mechanical Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/edt/283"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this thesis, an aircraft door hinge assembly provided by Gulfstream Aerospace was analyzed following an established process called DFMA. The hinge was then redesigned to be additively manufactured, which is uncommon currently in industry for load bearing components. It was shown that the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines were inadequate when applied to the new technology of additive manufacturing (AM). This was primarily due to AM's unique and unprecedented manufacturing capabilities.
A conservative redesign approach was followed due to a limitation in current AM material properties and time available for analysis. Despite this, a significant improvement in weight reduction and part count was still achieved. The total weight of the hinge assembly was reduced approximately 22% and the number of parts reduced from six to two. This weight reduction is estimated to save $56,000 in fuel over the course of 6000 flight hours per hinge redesigned, totaling $112,000 per G650 aircraft. All design work and weight estimations were performed in CATIA V5.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Design for Manufacturing and Assembly Analysis and Redesign of an Aircraft Refueling Door Hinge Utilizing Additive Manufacturing"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Schwarz, Kurt A."],"dc:description.abstract":["In this thesis, an aircraft door hinge assembly provided by Gulfstream Aerospace was analyzed following an established process called DFMA. The hinge was then redesigned to be additively manufactured, which is uncommon currently in industry for load bearing components. It was shown that the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines were inadequate when applied to the new technology of additive manufacturing (AM). This was primarily due to AM's unique and unprecedented manufacturing capabilities.
A conservative redesign approach was followed due to a limitation in current AM material properties and time available for analysis. Despite this, a significant improvement in weight reduction and part count was still achieved. The total weight of the hinge assembly was reduced approximately 22% and the number of parts reduced from six to two. This weight reduction is estimated to save $56,000 in fuel over the course of 6000 flight hours per hinge redesigned, totaling $112,000 per G650 aircraft. All design work and weight estimations were performed in CATIA V5.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/edt/283"],"dc:subject":["aircraft","refueling door","additive manufacturing","Aerospace Engineering","Manufacturing","Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:title":["The Design for Manufacturing and Assembly Analysis and Redesign of an Aircraft Refueling Door Hinge Utilizing Additive Manufacturing"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:26:08Z"}