A Coupled Aero-Structural Optimization Method For Complete Aircraft Configurations

This paper presents a new framework for the coupled optimization of aero-structural systems. The framework permits the use of high-fidelity modeling of both the aerodynamics and the structures and represents our first step in an effort towards the development of a high-fidelity multidisciplinary optimization capability. The approach is based on efficient analysis methodologies for the solution of the aerodynamics and structures subproblems, an adjoint solver to obtain aerodynamic sensitivities, and a multiprocessor parallel implementation. We have placed a geometry database representing the outer mold line (OML) of the configuration of interest at the core of our framework. Using this geometry description, the information exchange between aerodynamics and structures is accomplished through an independent coupling of each discipline with the OML database. The framework permits the later inclusion of other disciplines, such as heat transfer and radar signatures, with relative ease. Specific results from the coupling of a finite volume flow solver for the Euler and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes