Knowledge-based automatic Airframe Design using CPACS

Kurzfassung

The CPACS data format [Nagel et al. (2012), CPACS Homepage (2017)] has long been established as the primary means of data exchange in preliminary aircraft design projects within DLR. As described by Scherer et al. (2016), it contains a wide range of options for describing the structural layout of a design including frames and stringers, floors, bulkheads, etc. Based on these descriptions, several finite element model generators comparable to the one described by Walther et al. (2017) have been implemented, which can provide detailed computational structural models of a given design. However, all model generators require the information on the structural layout to be available in CPACS upfront. Within a larger aircraft design context, this necessitates the augmentation of the description of the structure to a given plain aircraft geometry. So far, this has been accomplished through a manual process, which not only results in an increased risk of errors, but also prohibits the exposure of parameters to a larger multidisciplinary optimization. In the presented paper, a newly developed knowledge-based airframe augmentation module will be introduced. Implemented in Python, it provides methods to automatically initialize a full structural layout on a given CPACS geometry, based on a manageable number of control parameters. In addition to an outline of the governing design rules, several application cases will also be given.