Distributed Design Support System for Concurrent Process of Preliminary Aircraft Design

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework for developing a distributed design support system for concurrent design process and applies it experimentally to preliminary aircraft design. The design process of a large complicated system is characterized by compromising between various criteria and relationships among quasi-independently decomposed subproblems. The preliminary design of aircraft is typical of such a design problem. In this paper, after the design problem is defined as a lumped mass system, the types of design phases, knowledge and operations are formally defined. The design process is decomposed horizontally and vertically, and the coordination mechanism is categorized into inter, inner and global aspects. Based on these, a computational method for supporting design refinement is developed using mathematical programming techniques. Furthermore, an experimental computer-aided design system is implemented for the preliminary design of aircraft using knowledge-base system techniques and agent-based distribution of tasks, etc. Its application demonstrates the validity and promises of proposed models and procedures.