cpacs-MONA – An independent and in high fidelity based MDO tasks integrated process for the structural and aeroelastic design for aircraft configurations

Abstract

The highly parameterized process cpacs-MONA for structural and aeroelastic design of aircraft configurations is presented. The parameterized design process is based on the Common Parametric Aircraft Configuration Schema (CPACS), developed by DLR, where almost all aircraft parameters like mission, geometry, structure, and material are defined. The process stands out for its independent use for structural and aeroelastic design on the one hand and its integration into high fidelity based multidisciplinary optimization tasks on the other hand. The process consists of preliminary mass and loads estimation based on conceptual design methods followed by a parameterized set-up of simulation models and an optimization model. They are used for a comprehensive loads analysis followed by a component wise structural optimization. The latter takes stress, strain, buckling and control surface efficiency as constraints into account. The structural simulation model consist of shell and beam elements for the wing-like component and the fuselage in order to represent the construction of the load carrying structure of the complete aircraft appropriately. Such depth of modelling allows also for the use of well-established structural optimization methods. MONA stands for ModGen, the in-house parametric model generation computer program, and MSC Nastran, used for loads and aeroelastic analysis as well as for structural optimization. cpacs-MONA is also integrated in MDO tasks, where other disciplines like aerodynamics and overall aircraft design are involved. Therein aerodynamic data from high fidelity CFD calculations are used to improve the vortex lattice based aerodynamic method that is applied of the aeroelastic loads analysis. The MDO tasks where cpcas-MONA is integrated can be gradient-free and gradient-based. For the gradient-based MDO task cpacs-MONA delivers to the system optimization level the structural variables, the structural responses the corresponding sensitivities. As structural optimization task alone can deal with a high number of variables and constraints, for the MDO task with other disciplines, like aerodynamics, methods were developed where the number of constraints is reduced that are taken into account on the system level. Two applications are presented for cpacs-MONA. In the first application cpacs-MONA is applied as independent and stand-alone structural and aeroelastic design process. For a long range wide body transport aircraft configuration the design loads case are estimated after a comprehensive loads analysis campaign. For the structural design especially the structural requirements and alternative strategies to achieve sufficient control surface effectiveness within the flight envelope are investigated. In the second application cpacs-MONA is part of a gradient-free optimization task with aerodynamics and the structure to be optimized simultaneously. The presented results show that the aerodynamic optimum lead on the one hand to a heavier wing mass, but investigating the structural optimization results more closely, also local benefits of the new aerodynamic design regarding the wing structure can be found.