Adaptable conceptual aircraft design model

Abstract

This paper presents a new conceptual design model ACAD (Adaptable Conceptual Aircraft Design), which differs from the other models due to its considerable adaptability to the different classes of aircraft. Another significant feature is the simplicity of the process which leads to the preliminary design outputs and also allowing a substantial autonomy in design choices. The model performs the aircraft design in terms of total weight, weight of aircraft subsystems, airplane and engine performances, and basic aircraft configuration layout. Optimization processes were implemented to calculate the wing aspect ratio and to perform the design requirements fulfillment. In order to evaluate the model outcomes, different test cases are presented: a STOL ultralight airplane, a new commuter with open-rotor engines and a last generation fighter.