As applications of composite material increasingly increase in the aviation sector, its manufacturing cost is now identified as a bottle neck, which limits the market competitiveness in terms of cost-performance efficiency. To estimate the manufacturing cost of composite structures at the early design stage, this research proposes a manufacturing cost model based on process simulation and represents the cost in the form of “Equivalent Working Hour” (EWH). The research also introduces the “Structural Complexity Element” (SCE) and “Hourly Rate Factor” (HRF) to ensure and improve the accuracy of the model. Then, the model is applied on a composite wing structure to calculate and analyze the manufacturing costs of two structure designs to be manufactured through manual lay-up, automated tape lay-up/fiber placement, autoclave or out-of-autoclave curing, mechanical assembly, and co-cure or adhesive bonding. The results verified the effectiveness of the model.

随着复合材料在航空领域的应用日益增加，其制造成本现已成为瓶颈，这限制了其在性价比方面的市场竞争力。为了估计复合材料结构在设计初期的制造成本，本研究提出了一种基于过程仿真的制造成本模型，并以“等效工作时间”（EWH）的形式表示了成本。该研究还引入了“结构复杂性元素”（SCE）和“小时费率因子”（HRF），以确保并提高模型的准确性。然后，将该模型应用于复合机翼结构，以计算和分析两种结构设计的制造成本，这些结构设计是通过手动叠层，自动胶带叠层/纤维放置，高压釜或超高压釜固化来制造的，机械组装以及共固化或胶粘剂粘合。结果证明了该模型的有效性。