Automated CAD design for sculptured airfoil surfaces

The design of tightly tolerated sculptured surfaces such as those for airfoils requires a significant design effort in order to machine the tools to create these surfaces. Because of the quantity of numerical data required to describe the airfoil surfaces, a CAD approach is required. Although this approach will result in productivity gains, much larger gains can be achieved by automating the design process. This paper discusses an application which resulted in an eightfold improvement in productivity by automating the design process on the CAD system.