CPACS 3.5.1-RC

CPACS v3.5.1-RC

This release candidate prepares the current develop branch for publication as CPACS v3.5.1.

CPACS v3.5.1-RC is a refinement release on top of CPACS 3.5, with a focus on stabilizing and clarifying recently introduced schema concepts based on implementation feedback. The main updates affect systems, decks, and fuel tanks.

Changed

Systems

• Refined the systems definition introduced in CPACS 3.5. (#858)
• Updated the geometry concept for predefined systemElements. (#848)
• Added support for multiSegmentShapes, and external CAD references.
• Allow for combined shapes in predefined systemElements with individual transformations
• Removed aircraft-level scaling for instantiated generic systems in order to avoid ambiguous semantics for mass, center of gravity, and inertia properties.

Decks

• Refined decks to better align with systems. (#859)
• Harmonized the handling of deckElements and systemElements.
• Replaced the previous boundingBox-based approach with the same general geometry building blocks used for systems.
• Moved away from the former 2D-only deck instantiation concept toward a consistent 3D transformation.
• Enabled cargo containers to be handled as regular deck elements.

Fuel tanks

• Refined the fuelTanks definition introduced in CPACS 3.5. (#860)
• Moved vessel-based tanks to aircraft model level at vehicles/aircraft/model/fuelTanks.
• Replaced XML nesting below fuselage by placement via parentUID, allowing tanks to be attached to fuselages, wings, nacelles, and other geometry parents.
• Reworked the internal tank definition around vessels.
• Improved support for structural definitions on vessel level.

Additional updates

• Updated and consolidated example files for systems and fuel tank use cases.
• Added documentation and build improvements, including tool-specific documentation support and updated build instructions. (#857)

Notes

Files based on the original CPACS 3.5 definitions in the areas of systems, decks, and fuelTanks may require updates before validating against this release candidate.