Aircraft designers strive to achieve optimal weight-reliability tradeoffs while designing an aircraft. Since aircraft wing skins account for more than fifty percent of their structural weight, aircraft wings must be d...Aircraft designers strive to achieve optimal weight-reliability tradeoffs while designing an aircraft. Since aircraft wing skins account for more than fifty percent of their structural weight, aircraft wings must be designed with utmost care and attention in terms of material types and thickness configurations. In particular, the selection of thickness at each location of the aircraft wing skin is the most consequential task for aircraft designers. To accomplish this, we present discrete mathematical programming models to obtain optimal thicknesses either to minimize weight or to maximize reliability. We present theoretical results for the decomposition of these discrete mathematical programming models to reduce computer memory requirements and facilitate the use of dynamic programming for design purposes. In particular, a decomposed version of the weight minimization problem is solved for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location to yield an optimal minimum weight design.展开更多
A light and reliable aircraft has been the major goal of aircraft designers. It is imperative to design the aircraft wing skins as efficiently as possible since the wing skins comprise more than fifty percent of the s...A light and reliable aircraft has been the major goal of aircraft designers. It is imperative to design the aircraft wing skins as efficiently as possible since the wing skins comprise more than fifty percent of the structural weight of the aircraft wing. The aircraft wing skin consists of many different types of material and thickness configurations at various locations. Selecting a thickness for each location is perhaps the most significant design task. In this paper, we formulate discrete mathematical programming models to determine the optimal thicknesses for three different criteria: maximize reliability, minimize weight, and achieve a trade-off between maximizing reliability and minimizing weight. These three model formulations are generalized discrete resource-allocation problems, which lend themselves well to the dynamic programming approach. Consequently, we use the dynamic programming method to solve these model formulations. To illustrate our approach, an example is solved in which dynamic programming yields a minimum weight design as well as a trade-off curve for weight versus reliability for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location.展开更多
The Blended-Wing-Body(BWB) is an unconventional configuration of aircraft and considered as a potential configuration for future commercial aircraft. One of the difficulties in conceptual design of a BWB aircraft is s...The Blended-Wing-Body(BWB) is an unconventional configuration of aircraft and considered as a potential configuration for future commercial aircraft. One of the difficulties in conceptual design of a BWB aircraft is structural mass prediction due to its unique structural feature. This paper presents a structural mass prediction method for conceptual design of BWB aircraft using a structure analysis and optimization method combined with empirical calibrations. The total BWB structural mass is divided into the ideal load-carrying structural mass, non-ideal mass, and secondary structural mass. Structural finite element analysis and optimization are used to predict the ideal primary structural mass, while the non-ideal mass and secondary structural mass are estimated by empirical methods. A BWB commercial aircraft is used to demonstrate the procedure of the BWB structural mass prediction method. The predicted mass of structural components of the BWB aircraft is presented, and the ratios of the structural component mass to the Maximum TakeOff Mass(MTOM) are discussed. It is found that the ratio of the fuselage mass to the MTOM for the BWB aircraft is much higher than that for a conventional commercial aircraft, and the ratio of the wing mass to the MTOM for the BWB aircraft is slightly lower than that for a conventional aircraft.展开更多
An effective method of optimal design of wing configuration is provided. The SUMT (sequential unconstained minimization technique) method is a good technique for solving the nonlinear programming. The application of p...An effective method of optimal design of wing configuration is provided. The SUMT (sequential unconstained minimization technique) method is a good technique for solving the nonlinear programming. The application of penalty in optimal design of wing configuration has been solved well. The present method for the aerodynamic calculation is the combination of both the nonlinear panel method and the suction analogy method of vortexlift spanwise distribution on large swept wing-tip. The calculation results are in good agreement with experimental data. According to the computation and experiment,the mechanism of the increased lift and reduced drag about the sheared wing-tip wing has been analyzed, and some opinions of interest are proposed.展开更多
The achievement of laminar flow in the boundary layer at high-speed cruise conditions may further, in addition to shock-wave control, reduce the drag and extend the range of military fighter aircraft. To this end, a f...The achievement of laminar flow in the boundary layer at high-speed cruise conditions may further, in addition to shock-wave control, reduce the drag and extend the range of military fighter aircraft. To this end, a further investigation on transitional boundary-layer flow of fighter wings is needed due to different configurations from the wings used on conventional transport aircraft. In this paper, wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations were conducted on three-dimensional transition of thin diamond-shaped wings used on advanced fighter aircraft at tran/supersonic design points. A newly proposed correlation of crossflow transition which includes the effect of surface roughness was introduced into the c-Rehttransition model. Predicted results were in good agreement with flow visualizations. Results showed that the strength of the crossflow component grew rapidly around the leading edge because of the severe flow acceleration, just as the same as wings with a large aspect ratio. However, there seemed no regular pattern of instabilitydominance variation in span-wise for a diamond configuration. The dominance of different instability mechanisms strongly depended on the local pressure distribution. Hereby, the research recommended a ‘‘roof-like" shape of pressure distribution to suppress both crossflow and Tollmien-Schlichting(T-S) instabilities. Besides, a sharp suction peak with a serious pressure rise should be cut off to avoid stronger instabilities. Further discussions also revealed an independence of the unit Reynolds number when transition was triggered by T-S instabilities. Aerodynamic force comparisons indicated that further benefit on drag reduction could be expected by including the three-dimensional transition effect into a wing design process.展开更多
文摘Aircraft designers strive to achieve optimal weight-reliability tradeoffs while designing an aircraft. Since aircraft wing skins account for more than fifty percent of their structural weight, aircraft wings must be designed with utmost care and attention in terms of material types and thickness configurations. In particular, the selection of thickness at each location of the aircraft wing skin is the most consequential task for aircraft designers. To accomplish this, we present discrete mathematical programming models to obtain optimal thicknesses either to minimize weight or to maximize reliability. We present theoretical results for the decomposition of these discrete mathematical programming models to reduce computer memory requirements and facilitate the use of dynamic programming for design purposes. In particular, a decomposed version of the weight minimization problem is solved for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location to yield an optimal minimum weight design.
文摘A light and reliable aircraft has been the major goal of aircraft designers. It is imperative to design the aircraft wing skins as efficiently as possible since the wing skins comprise more than fifty percent of the structural weight of the aircraft wing. The aircraft wing skin consists of many different types of material and thickness configurations at various locations. Selecting a thickness for each location is perhaps the most significant design task. In this paper, we formulate discrete mathematical programming models to determine the optimal thicknesses for three different criteria: maximize reliability, minimize weight, and achieve a trade-off between maximizing reliability and minimizing weight. These three model formulations are generalized discrete resource-allocation problems, which lend themselves well to the dynamic programming approach. Consequently, we use the dynamic programming method to solve these model formulations. To illustrate our approach, an example is solved in which dynamic programming yields a minimum weight design as well as a trade-off curve for weight versus reliability for an aircraft wing with thirty locations (or panels) and fourteen thickness choices for each location.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11432007)
文摘The Blended-Wing-Body(BWB) is an unconventional configuration of aircraft and considered as a potential configuration for future commercial aircraft. One of the difficulties in conceptual design of a BWB aircraft is structural mass prediction due to its unique structural feature. This paper presents a structural mass prediction method for conceptual design of BWB aircraft using a structure analysis and optimization method combined with empirical calibrations. The total BWB structural mass is divided into the ideal load-carrying structural mass, non-ideal mass, and secondary structural mass. Structural finite element analysis and optimization are used to predict the ideal primary structural mass, while the non-ideal mass and secondary structural mass are estimated by empirical methods. A BWB commercial aircraft is used to demonstrate the procedure of the BWB structural mass prediction method. The predicted mass of structural components of the BWB aircraft is presented, and the ratios of the structural component mass to the Maximum TakeOff Mass(MTOM) are discussed. It is found that the ratio of the fuselage mass to the MTOM for the BWB aircraft is much higher than that for a conventional commercial aircraft, and the ratio of the wing mass to the MTOM for the BWB aircraft is slightly lower than that for a conventional aircraft.
文摘An effective method of optimal design of wing configuration is provided. The SUMT (sequential unconstained minimization technique) method is a good technique for solving the nonlinear programming. The application of penalty in optimal design of wing configuration has been solved well. The present method for the aerodynamic calculation is the combination of both the nonlinear panel method and the suction analogy method of vortexlift spanwise distribution on large swept wing-tip. The calculation results are in good agreement with experimental data. According to the computation and experiment,the mechanism of the increased lift and reduced drag about the sheared wing-tip wing has been analyzed, and some opinions of interest are proposed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.11372254)
文摘The achievement of laminar flow in the boundary layer at high-speed cruise conditions may further, in addition to shock-wave control, reduce the drag and extend the range of military fighter aircraft. To this end, a further investigation on transitional boundary-layer flow of fighter wings is needed due to different configurations from the wings used on conventional transport aircraft. In this paper, wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations were conducted on three-dimensional transition of thin diamond-shaped wings used on advanced fighter aircraft at tran/supersonic design points. A newly proposed correlation of crossflow transition which includes the effect of surface roughness was introduced into the c-Rehttransition model. Predicted results were in good agreement with flow visualizations. Results showed that the strength of the crossflow component grew rapidly around the leading edge because of the severe flow acceleration, just as the same as wings with a large aspect ratio. However, there seemed no regular pattern of instabilitydominance variation in span-wise for a diamond configuration. The dominance of different instability mechanisms strongly depended on the local pressure distribution. Hereby, the research recommended a ‘‘roof-like" shape of pressure distribution to suppress both crossflow and Tollmien-Schlichting(T-S) instabilities. Besides, a sharp suction peak with a serious pressure rise should be cut off to avoid stronger instabilities. Further discussions also revealed an independence of the unit Reynolds number when transition was triggered by T-S instabilities. Aerodynamic force comparisons indicated that further benefit on drag reduction could be expected by including the three-dimensional transition effect into a wing design process.
