Decomposition of Mathematical Programming Models for Aircraft Wing Design Facilitating the Use of Dynamic Programming Approach

Aircraft designers strive to achieve optimal weight-reliability tradeoffs while designing an aircraft. Since aircraft wing skins account for more than fifty percent of their structural weight, aircraft wings must be designed with utmost care and attention in terms of material types and thickness configurations. In particular, the selection of thickness at each location of the aircraft wing skin is the most consequential task for aircraft designers. To accomplish this, we present discrete mathematical programming models to obtain optimal thicknesses either to minimize weight or to maximize reliability. We present theoretical results for the decomposition of these discrete mathematical programming models to reduce computer memory requirements and facilitate the use of dynamic programming for design purposes. In particular, a decomposed version of the weight minimization problem is solved for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location to yield an optimal minimum weight design.

METHOD FOR ESTIMATING GEOMETIC CHARACTERISTICS OF NUMERICAL CONCEPTUAL AIRCRAFT MODELS BASED ON SURFACE ELEMENTS

To estimate the geometric characteristics, especially wet areas and section areas, of three dimensional numerical conceptual aircraft models, a method based on surface elements is proposed. On the premise that numerous surface elements are generated to represent each component surface, a component wet area of the surface is estimated by adding up the areas of such elements that are not covered by any other component surfaces. The elements are also used to get the section polygons of such composite surfaces as the whole aircraft at a given body station, then a section area is approximated with the sum of trapezoidal areas between such sides of polygons that are not covered by any other component and a reference axis. Practical application to a computer aided aircraft conceptual design system shows that the methed is applicable to different kinds of conceptual aircraft models and its precision is satisfying to the conceptual design.

Implementation of a Sketch Based Approach to Conceptual Aircraft Design Synthesis and Modeling

In the context of applying computer aided design tools to aircraft conceptualdesign, a sketch based approach is proposed to help designers turn their original concepts intocomplex numerical models that are usable for further analysis and optimization. This approachemphasizes the integration of general configuration and the layout of such components as engines,payloads, fuel tanks and landing gears, and the representation of a design scheme as uniform planesketches and three dimensional models. This paper presents the measures adopted to implement theapproach in a prototype system, including the object-oriented data structure, friendly graphicaluser interfaces and basic features of relevant modules. Several examples generated in the prototypeand applications of the results are finally outlined to illustrate the effectiveness of theapproach.

Maturity assessment model for aircraft collaborative design software solution

In order to assure quality and control process in the development of the aircraft collaborative design software, a maturity assessment model is proposed. The requirements designing—house of quality is designed to evaluate the maturity degree of the solution, and the evaluation results can help to manage and control the development process. Furthermore, a fuzzy evaluation method based on the minimum deviation is proposed to deal with the fuzzy information. The quantitative evaluation result of the maturity degree can be calculated by optimizing the semantic discount factor aim for the minimum deviation. Finally, this model is illustrated and analyzed by an example study of the aircraft collaborative design software.

Environment of Design Requirements Input and Preliminary Sizing for Aircraft Conceptual Design

To supply a convenient and expandable tool to organize the designrequirements of a new aircraft and estimate its basic design parameters during conceptual design,the Environment of Design Requirements Input and Preliminary Sizing (EDRIPS) was developed. In thisenvironment, the performance requirements, mission profile and payloads could be inputted orselected respectively through user-friendly interfaces in a highly interactive way. Based on theserequirements, it enables the designer to pick up a design point in the solution space throughconstraint analysis, and then conduct mission analysis either step by step or via auto iteration byusing an improved method for estimating the takeoff weight. The implementation of each module andthe methods utilized are described. A design example is finally presented and analyzed to validatethe efficiency and reliability of applying EDRIPS to aircraft conceptual design.

A New Method for Optimum Allocation of Design Requirements in Aircraft Conceptual Design

A new method, Collaborative Allocation （CA）, is proposed to solve the large-scale optimum allocation problem in aircraft conceptual design. According to the characteristics of optimum allocation in aircraft conceptual design. The principle and mathematical model of CA are established. The optimum allocation problem is decomposed into one main optimization problem and several sub-optimization problems. A group of design requirements for subsystems are provided by the main system respectively, and the subsystems execute their own optimizations or further provide the detailed design requirements to the bottom components of aircraft, such as spars, ribs and skins, etc. The subsystems minimize the discrepancy between their own local variables and the corresponding allocated values, and then return the optimization results to main optimization. The main optimization is performed to reallocate the design requirements for improving the integration performance and progressing toward the compatibilities among subsystems. CA provides the general optimum allocation architecture and is easy to be carried out. Furthermore, the concurrent computation can also be realized. Two examples of optimum reliability allocation are used to describe the implementation procedure of CA for two-level allocation and three-level allocation respectively, and to validate preliminarily its correctness and effectiveness. It is shown that the developed method can be successfully used in optimum allocation of design requirements. Then taking weight requirement allocation as example, the mathematical model and solution procedure for collaborative allocation of design requirements in aircraft conceptual design are briefly depicted.

DESIGN OBJECT MODEL AND DESIGN PROCESS MODEL OF COMPUTER AIDED AIRCRAFT CONCEPTUAL DESIGN SYSTEM

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AIRCRAFT DESIGN EXPERIENCE

Some of the author's experiences of aircraft design are described in the present report, and it is hoped that they would be of some interest to the aircraft designers.

The Influence of Demoiselle Aircraft on Light and General Aviation Design

In 1907, aviation pioneer Santos-Dumont had the idea of building a very light airplane. He designed and built the SD 19, the Demoiselle, an aircraft with a 6 meter wing span and a 24 HP engine of his own design. The Demoiselle was very successful in flying and, became very popular and its development continued as SD20, SD21 and SD22 （his last airplane）. The influence of the Demoiselle on design principles of light aircraft and general aviation were studied in this work, using statistical entropy, The designs number 20 and 22 may be considered dominant and influenced the design principles of light aircraft and general aviation.

Conceptual Design and Aerodynamic Study of Joined-Wing Business Jet Aircraft

The concept of joined-wing aircraft with nonplanar wings as conceived and patented by Wolkovitch is attractive due to various advantages such as light weight, high stiffness, low induced drag, high trimmed CLmax, reduced wetted area and parasite drag and good stability and control, which have been supported by independent analyses, design studies and wind tunnel tests. With such foreseen advantages, the present work is carried out to design joined-wing business-jet aircraft and study and investigate its advantages and benefits as compared to the current available conventional business jet of similar size, passenger and payload capacity. In particular, the work searches for a conceptual design of joined-wing configured business-jet aircraft that possesses more superior characteristics and better aerodynamic performance in terms of increased lift and reduced drag, and lighter than the conventional business jet of similar size. Another significant objective of this work is to prove that the added rigidity possessed by the joined wing configuration can contribute to weight reduction.

REQUIREMENTS AND DESIGN METHOD FOR MATCHING AIRCRAFT GUNS WITH THEIR SUPPORTING STRUCTURE

In aircraft structural dynamic design the matching of guns with their supporting structure is one of the most important tasks on which hinges the success or failure of the structural design. The design curves for matching guns with their supporting structure can be obtained from response calculations of the plate-spring system supporting the gun on the ground,the model structure tested on the ground and the actual structure.A set of matching curves is given for engineering application.Then,the matching design can be accomplished by means of impact load spectrograms so as to perform an optimal structural design and to make further improvements on dynamic design program.

Application of Fuzzy QFD to Aircraft Top Hierarchy Design

In this paper, based on the Quality Function Deployment ( QFD) method, theFuzzy Quality Function Deployment (FQFD) theory and the step-by-step hierarchy structure in aircrafttop decision design are studied. The fuzzy model for computing competitive factor in evaluation ispresented. The decision of key technologies for improving the performance and affordability of afixed-wing aircraft is studied using the model, and the result proves the feasibility of this model.

A Dynamic Programming Approach to the Design of Composite Aircraft Wings

A light and reliable aircraft has been the major goal of aircraft designers. It is imperative to design the aircraft wing skins as efficiently as possible since the wing skins comprise more than fifty percent of the structural weight of the aircraft wing. The aircraft wing skin consists of many different types of material and thickness configurations at various locations. Selecting a thickness for each location is perhaps the most significant design task. In this paper, we formulate discrete mathematical programming models to determine the optimal thicknesses for three different criteria: maximize reliability, minimize weight, and achieve a trade-off between maximizing reliability and minimizing weight. These three model formulations are generalized discrete resource-allocation problems, which lend themselves well to the dynamic programming approach. Consequently, we use the dynamic programming method to solve these model formulations. To illustrate our approach, an example is solved in which dynamic programming yields a minimum weight design as well as a trade-off curve for weight versus reliability for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location.

Aero-structural design of joined-wing aircraft based on high-fidelity model

The joined-wing configuration reduces induced drag and structural weight by connecting the rear wing to the front wing.In addition,the rear wing can replace the role of the horizontal tail of a conventional aircraft,thus eliminating the aerodynamic drag and weight associated with the horizontal tail.This particular shape creates a highly coupled relationship between aerodynamics and structure,which must be fully considered during the overall design process to enhance aircraft performance.In this research,an aero-structural design model of the joined-wing aircraft is constructed based on high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics and structural finite element methods.The model is able to obtain accurate aerodynamic loads for the non-planar wing and to simulate the statically indeterminate structure of the closed wing configuration.The influence of the joined-wing shape parameters on the aerodynamic and structural disciplines,as well as the influence of geometric nonlinear characteristics,deformation constraints and buckling constraints on the structural weight are all taken into consideration.The model is applied to complete the aero-structural design optimization of a high-altitude long-endurance joined-wing aircraft,and wind tunnel tests are conducted.The test results verify the credibility of the design model proposed and the validity of the design environment.

Overall eVTOL aircraft design for urban air mobility

Electric vertical takeoff and landing(eVTOL)aircraft have emerged as a potential alternative to the existing transportation system,offering a transition from two-dimensional commuting and logistics to three-dimensional mobility.As a groundbreaking innovation in both the automotive and aviation sectors,eVTOL holds significant promise but also presents notable challenges.This paper aims to address the overall aircraft design(OAD)approach specifically tailored for eVTOL in the context of Urban Air Mobility(UAM).In contrast to traditional OAD methods,this study introduces and integrates disciplinary methodologies specifically catered to eVTOL aircraft design.A case study is conducted on a tilt-duct eVTOL aircraft with a typical UAM mission,and the disciplinary performance,including initial sizing,aerodynamics,electric propulsion systems,stability and control,weight,mission analysis and noise,is examined using the OAD methodologies.The findings demonstrate that the current approach effectively evaluates the fundamental aircraft-level performance of eVTOL,albeit further high-fidelity disciplinary analysis and optimization methods are required for future MDO-based eVTOL overall aircraft design.

INTEGRATED DESIGN OF AN ELECTRIC POWERED UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE USING CONCURRENT SUBSPACE DESIGN

The concurrent subspace design (CSD) framework has been used to conduct a preliminary design optimization of an electric powered, unmanned air vehicle (EPUAV) operating at a low Reynolds number. A multidisciplinary system analysis that includes aerodynamics, weights, propulsion, performance and stability and control has been developed for this class of vehicles. The CSD framework employs artificial neural network based response surfaces to provide approximations to the design space. The EPUAV system includes 25 continuous and 4 discrete design variables. The CSD framework was able to identify feasible designs with significant weight reductions relative to any previously considered (i.e. initial database) designs. This was accomplished with a limited number of system analyses. The results also demonstrate the nature of this design framework adaptive to changes in design requirements.

On the Efficiency of a CFD-Based Full Convolution Neural Network for the Post-Processing of Field Data

The present study aims to improve the efficiency of typical procedures used for post-processing flow field data by applying a neural-network technology.Assuming a problem of aircraft design as the workhorse,a regression calculation model for processing the flow data of a FCN-VGG19 aircraft is elaborated based on VGGNet(Visual Geometry Group Net)and FCN(Fully Convolutional Network)techniques.As shown by the results,the model displays a strong fitting ability,and there is almost no over-fitting in training.Moreover,the model has good accuracy and convergence.For different input data and different grids,the model basically achieves convergence,showing good performances.It is shown that the proposed simulation regression model based on FCN has great potential in typical problems of computational fluid dynamics(CFD)and related data processing.

Ecolifter Conceptual Configuration Design and Parameter Analysis

In the phase of conceptually designing, the Ecolifter with three lift surface configuration, the influences of aircraft geometric parameters and configuration such as wing geometric parameters, canard parameters, aircraft center of gravity and engine positions and so on, on flight dynamic stability are discussed with the integrated analysis method. On the basis of the analysis of flight dynamic stability, the suitable wing geometric parameters are given and the improved aircraft configuration is proposed.

CONTOUR DESIGN AND PRACTICE FOR A LOW RADAR CROSS SECTION VEHICLE

On the basis of the canard configuration a contour stealth design including chiefly the wing, the fuselage and their connection type is projected. The prime project of a blended wing body vehicle with canard is provided and through the change of the fuselage head form and the different fin disposals, the radar cross section (RCS) is optimized. The average value of RCS and the value of RCS in the ± 45 ° front sector for different designs are illustrated. The model measurement proves that the project having a sharp head fuselage and 30 ° angle double fin has the minimum value of RCS. The wind tunnel test to the model with RCS optimized proved that the vehicle project has excellent aerodynamic characteristics such as high lift curve slope, up to 26° stalling angle, high lift / drag ratio equal to 8, and also has low RCS value in the front sector and in the lateral sector.

Downwash modelling for three-lifting-surface aircraft configuration design

This paper introduces a semi-empirical model to predict the downwash gradient at the horizontal tail of a three-lifting-surface aircraft.The superposition principle applied to well established formulations valid for two lifting surfaces is not a reasonable approach to calculate the downwash of a canard-wing-tail layout,and this paper demonstrates that such a basic technique leads to incorrect results.Therefore,an ad hoc prediction model is proposed that considers the combined nonlinear effects of canard and main wing inductions on tail downwash,being based on a full factorial design sweep of CFD simulations obtained by varying the main geometrical parameters of the three lifting surfaces.A suitable analytical formula for the downwash gradient is established through a process of data analysis and factor extraction.The presented model extends the validity of the available models for traditional two-lifting-surface designs by means of a correction factor.The engineering estimation method introduced here exhibits an acceptable accuracy,as well as relatively small prediction errors,and it is suitable for conceptual and preliminary studies of threesurface layouts.The value of this methodology is confirmed by the validation with the results of numerical and experimental investigations on a case study aircraft.