Integrated Sizing and Optimization of Aircraft and Subsystem Architectures in Early Design

Abstract

The aerospace industry's current trend towards novel or More Electric architectures results in some unique challenges for designers due to both a scarcity or absence of historical data and a potentially large combinatorial space of possible architectures. These add to the already existing challenges of attempting to optimize an aircraft design in the presence of multiple possible objective functions while avoiding an overly compartmentalized approach. This paper uses the Integrated Subsystem Sizing and Architecture Assessment Capability to pursue a multi-objective optimization for a Large Twin-aisle Aircraft and a Small Single-aisle Aircraft using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II with parallel function evaluations. One novelty of the optimization setup is that it explicitly considers the impacts of subsystem architectures in addition to those of traditional aircraft-level design variables. The optimization yielded generations of non-dominated designs in which substantially electrified subsystem architectures were found to predominate. As a first assessment of the impact of epistemic uncertainty on the results obtained, the optimization was re-run with altered sensitivities for the thrust-specific fuel consumption penalties due to shaft-power and bleed air extraction. This analysis demonstrated that the composition of architectures on the Pareto frontier is sensitive to the secondary power extraction penalties, but more so for the Small Single-aisle Aircraft than the Large Twin-aisle Aircraft.

Integrated Flight Control System Characterization Approach for Civil High-Speed Vehicles in Conceptual Design

“…Moving on to consider the actuation system, the maximum required control surface deflections are used as inputs for the estimation of hinge moments. A novel approach is suggested in the following subsections to extend the formulations available in the Literature [6] beyond the transonic regime. In the end, the FCS design is completed with the selection of actuators and finalization of the system architecture, both in terms of power distribution lines and control logics, respectively, considering interactions with and connections with the electrical power system and avionic system.…”

“…However, it is worth noting that many recent works focus on the controller design (software), rather than on the design and characterization of the flight control surfaces and actuation subsystem (hardware). Primarily, it is important to highlight that traditional system design methodologies are not directly applicable to innovative aircraft design, as widely addressed in the Literature [6][7][8][9][10][11]. It is clear that a paradigm shift in systems design methodology is necessary to deal with the next generation of high-speed vehicles.…”

Large-Scale Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an eVTOL Aircraft using Comprehensive Analysis

“…It then determines the mass, drag increment, and secondary power requirements of each subsystem, which are propagated back to vehicle-level mass properties analysis and mission analysis [46]. Such approaches have been extensively used to optimally size aircraft with electrified subsystem architectures by Rajaram et al [47]. In this work, the scope is reduced to not consider physics-based subsystem sizing.…”

Safety Analysis of Integrated Modular Avionics System Based on FTGPN Method

“…IMA system is evolving to provide more functionality with lesser parts, weight, and cost, while it is also meeting all the reliability and safety constraints [1][2][3][4]. To cope efficiently with the high level of complexity, a novel and structured development methodology is required [5][6][7].…”