Abstract: In the course of aircraft development, frequent aircraft design changes are the main factor which results in amendment of assembly tooling. In this article, assembly tooling design is described by the axiomatic design theory, and a variant method for assembly tooling design based on aircraft product structure change is presented. In this model, digital master tooling and tooling conception geometry are used as control geometry, and the model of assembly tooling variant design is created by top-down and bottom-up operations among the five layers, which are the master geometry layer, original control geometry layer, derivative control geometry layer, part layer, and design base library layer. Rapid response and modification in tooling design to product change is realized. A variant design software package is developed and applied to rudder assembly tooling design. The application proves that the method can improve design efficiency and reduce design iteration.

Key words: tooling, assembly, variant design, design change, collaborative design