VizCraft: a problem-solving environment for aircraft configuration design

Abstract

V isualization has let scientists gain an understanding of their data that was not previously possible. However, lack of integration among the various software modules often separates the visualization process from the computation that generates the data.VizCraft is a problem-solving environment that aids designers during the configuration design of a high-speed civil transport (HSCT). VizCraft provides a graphical user interface to a widely used suite of simulation and analysis codes for HSCT design, 1 and it provides tools for visualizing the outputs of these codes. So, VizCraft provides an environment that combines visualization and computation, encouraging the designer to think in terms of the overall problem-solving task, not simply using the visualization to view the computation's results. The HSCT design problemWe want to minimize the takeoff gross weight (TOGW) for a 250-passenger HSCT with a range of 5,500 nautical miles and a Mach 2.4 cruise speed. The simplified mission profile includes takeoff, supersonic cruise, and landing. Typically, aircraft design comprises three distinct phases: conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design. The conceptual-design stage determines and sets major design parameters for the final configuration. It models an aircraft with a set of values for significant parameters relating to the aircraft geometry, internal structure, systems, and mission.Individual designs can be (and are) viewed as points in a multidimensional design space. The designer must determine that a proposed design point• is feasible (it satisfies a series of constraints) and • has a figure of merit determined by an objective function.The goal is then to find the feasible point with the smallest objective-function value. The multidisciplinary HSCT design problem uses TOGW as the objective function. TOGW is a nonlinear, implicit function of the 29 design variables that define the HSCT configuration and mission.

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Sampling strategies for mining in data-scarce domains

“…Consider the conceptual design of a high-speed civil transport, which involves the disciplines of aerodynamics, structures, mission-related controls, and propulsion (see Figure 1). 1 Frequently, the engineer will change some aspect of a nominal design point and run a simulation to see how the change affects the objective function (for example, takeoff gross weight, or TOGW). Or the design process is made configurable, so the engineer can concentrate on accurately modeling one aspect while replacing the remainder of the design with fixed boundary conditions surrounding the focal area.…”