Fuel Burn Efficiency Potential of Load Alleviation and Wing Planform Optimization in Conceptual Overall Aircraft Design

Abstract

This study shows the integration of the overall aircraft design with a concurrent wing planform optimization for long-range aircraft. The focus is on wing design and active load control with trailing edge flaps. A physics-based framework for structural wing design with simplified aeroelastic load cases is the computational backbone of the research. The goal is to explore the potential of load alleviation while optimizing a conventional cantilever aircraft configuration with a surrogate model based approach. It is shown that load alleviation significantly reduces the wing mass, and has an effect on the empennage. In comparing optimized aircraft designs with and without load alleviation, the fuel burn benefit of load alleviation is between 1.6% and 19.5%, with 11.6% as the most realistic estimate. This includes a 4% improvement from active load alleviation and 7.6% from the wing planform optimization. Simplified constraints like maximum wingspan and minimum roll control authority are investigated. Implicit conditions such as constant wing loading and static margin are included to ensure comparability across the designs.