Development of a Changeable Airfoil Optimization Model for Use in the Multidisciplinary Design of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

An important factor in system longevity is service-phase evolvability, which is defined as the ability of a system to physically transform from one configuration to a more desirable configuration while in service. These transformations may or may not be known during the design process; and may or may not be reversible. In a different study, we examined 210 engineered systems and found that system excess and modularity allow a system to evolve while in service. Building on this observation, the present paper introduces mathematical relationships that map a system's excess and modularity to that system's ability to evolve. As introduced in this paper, these relationships are derived from elastic potential energy theories. The use of the evolvability measure, and other related measures presented herein, is illustrated with a simple numerical example and applied to the design of US Navy nuclear aircraft carriers. Using the relationships, we show that the Navy's new Ford-class aircraft carrier is the most evolvable carrier designed to date. While the evolvability relationships introduced here are generically derived based on excess and modularity, the aircraft carrier example presented in this paper considers only the system excess.

show abstract

“…Then, we evaluate the remaining evolvability using Equation 8, with the remaining excess C new , and the remaining modularity M new .…”

Section: Evaluate the Benefit Of Feasible Ideas And Remaining Evolvabmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We evaluate the remaining evolvability in the Ford-class using Equation 8, the initial gain measure of service life g c i and the remaining excess C i new . …”

Section: Evaluate the Benefit Of Feasible Ideas And Remaining Evolvabmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Model for Quantifying System Evolvability Based on Excess and Modularity

Tackett

Mattson

Ferguson

2013

54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Unmanned aerial vehicles have been a popular topic in particular. Work in this area has conducted sensitivity studies 2 , explored concept embodiment 3 , and developed analyses engines capable of spanning multiple disciplines [4][5][6] . Reconfigurable UAVs have also been envisioned with offline reconfigurations where the UAV is changed between missions by swapping out wing and/or propulsion modules 7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tradespace Exploration of Reconfigurability using Surrogate Points to Simplify Dominance Determination

Denhart

Gemmer

Ferguson

et al. 2013

54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reconfigurable system design is known to be a strategy that offers vast performance improvement over traditional designs. Extending from previous work, this paper presents a strategy for assessing the domination of a reconfigurable concept. By considering the performance demands placed upon a system at different segments of a mission, reconfigurable systems are shown in a multi-objective space as a collection of points. This is different than static designs which are typically represented as a single point. The principles of Pareto dominance are extended to describe the comparisons between systems in this space. A surrogate point is introduced to reduce calculation burden and provide a foundation for the development of a necessary condition for dominance. This approach is then demonstrated on a case study of Mars exploration rovers where a traditional rocker-bogie architecture is compared to the two-state Transforming Rolling Roving Explorer architecture. These principles lay the groundwork for choosing between reconfigurable and static systems when multiple objectives are considered. I. IntroductionR econfigurability and flexibility are concepts associated with complex system design that offer large improvements in system performance and robustness. Reconfigurability is the ability of a system to change "configurations … repeatedly and reversibly," 1 and benefits include multi-ability (operating at multiple performance points in the design space non-simultaneously), evolvability (changes to meet new demands), and survivability (changes to maintain functionality despite component failures). The goal of this paper is to explore the advantages of multi-ability when initially selecting system architecture. Specifically, this paper explores the architecture selection for a Mars rover.Tradespace visualization is a powerful tool for navigating the trade-offs inherent in system design, especially when multiple objectives are considered. This paper explores the challenges with, and establishes initial groundwork for, visualizing the complexity associated with reconfigurable systems in a multidimensional environment. Key challenges of this task relate to understanding how performance domination in a multi-objective space can be extended to a reconfigurable system, and how this domination may be explored visually. Solving these challenges will allow for the development of fundamental rules for evaluating reconfigurable architectures that can then be used to facilitate the application of multi-objective optimization techniques toward reconfigurable designs.Research over the last decade has seen an increased interest in the optimization of reconfigurable systems. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been a popular topic in particular. Work in this area has conducted sensitivity studies 2 , explored concept embodiment 3 , and developed analyses engines capable of spanning multiple disciplines 4-6 . Reconfigurable UAVs have also been envisioned with offline reconfigurations where the UAV is changed between missions by swapping out wi...

show abstract

“…Product is considered as static in the use phase, when no major evolution is undergone. However, static products are limited in performance [1], leading to the emergence of other kinds of product, such as mechatronical or transformable products. The paper focuses on transformable products, which are characterized by different configurations in the use phase.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformable Product Formal Definition with Its Implementation in CAD Tools

Gruhier¹,

Kromer²,

Demoly³

et al. 2017

Product Lifecycle Management and the Industry of the Future

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nowadays products extend their capabilities towards changing their configurations in order to cover multiple usage needs. They may be named transformable products and have not been taken into consideration in early design stages yet. In this paper, a proactive definition of the product is provided with transformation intrinsic properties. The formalization leads to an architecture. This enables developing a transformable product from two ordinary non-evolving objects. Different configurations and transformation processes have been set and implemented within a CAD tool to design a transformable product. A new paradigm is thus initiated, which will lead to efficient and dynamic design of transformable product.

show abstract

Development of a Changeable Airfoil Optimization Model for Use in the Multidisciplinary Design of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Cited by 10 publications

References 24 publications

A Model for Quantifying System Evolvability Based on Excess and Modularity

A Model for Quantifying System Evolvability Based on Excess and Modularity

Tradespace Exploration of Reconfigurability using Surrogate Points to Simplify Dominance Determination

Transformable Product Formal Definition with Its Implementation in CAD Tools

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About